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PM Boris Johnson ‘ballistic’ over scrapping of Kensington High Street cycle lane

Meanwhile it turns out Daily Mail owner previously “welcomed” councils installing more cycleways

Boris Johnson is reported to have gone “ballistic” at the removal this week of emergency cycle lanes on Kensington High Street. Meanwhile it has emerged that two years ago the owners of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, both firmly opposed to the infrastructure, which passes by their offices, “welcomed” steps by local authorities to introduce more cycleways to promote active travel.

The Mail on Sunday reports today that Andrew Gilligan, the Prime Minister’s transport adviser, told the Conservative-controlled Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) not to remove the lanes, which had been put in place on either side of Kensington High Street in September – and even told the council that Johnson would ride his bike along them for a photo opportunity.

Gilligan, who from 2013 to 2016 was the capital’s first cycling commissioner when Johnson was Mayor of London, is reported to have made his comments during a phone call with an RBKC councillor, according to the Mail on Sunday’s source.

The source claimed that Gilligan “Said the PM is personally interested in the scheme and is going ballistic about it. He said if we keep the lane, he would get Boris to come and do a cycle ride down it.

“We thought this couldn't be true, we thought the PM would be more busy than that, but that's what Gilligan said.”

The source also alleged that the council had been “bullied” into installing the cycle lanes by Gilligan.

“We were being forced to do things for which we were being obliterated by our own residents, because No 10 said we will get something worse if we didn't,” the source said. “We did it because we felt a bit intimidated, and a bit bullied.”

A spokesman for No 10 Downing Street denied however that there had been any bullying or intimidation, and said that Gilligan had “no recollection” of offering to have the Prime Minister ride down Kensington High Street.

“Mr Gilligan had a brief and civil conversation last week with a councillor from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in order to ask him to send over the evidence on which the council had acted, which he did,” adding that there had been “no threat made over funding, nor was the tone of the conversation 'bullying' or 'intimidating'.”

The outcry over RBKC’s removal of the cycle lanes has created some unlikely allies, with Johnson’s successor as Mayor of London, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, last week hinting that Transport for London (TfL) could seize control of Kensington High Street, thereby taking the matter out of the council’s hands, as well as raising the prospect of clawing back the £300,000 it had awarded the borough for the infrastructure.

Will Norman, the mayor’s walking and cycling commissioner, said: “They eventually agreed to do this [the Kensington scheme] but they are taking it out before it's even finished. People are dying on these roads. I'm so angry about it. There have been so many collisions and serious injuries that there needs to be a safe route across west London.”

The lanes were removed despite a protest ride on Tuesday morning led by children, parents and staff of the nearby Fox Primary School, and action from Extinction Rebellion and Stop Killing Cyclists campaigners who prevented contractors from beginning the work of taking the wands that marked out the lanes on Wednesday evening.

> “Shameful, callous and retrograde”: 200 join protest against removal of Kensington High Street cycle lanes

The two campaign groups also held a protest outside Kensington Town Hall on Thursday evening as well as outside Northcliffe House, where the Mail titles are based, but the council’s contractors had removed most of the wands by the following morning.

CCTV footage from TfL, however, shows that parked vehicles have taken the place of the cycle lanes – resulting in a situation whereby there is no increased road space for motorists, nor safe space for cyclists who have to use the main carriageway.

Retweeting footage from the Kensington High Street CCTV camera, British Cycling policy advisor Chris Boardman said: “It’s pretty insulting to remove a cycle lane being used by 4000 people a day even before trial period finishes, because ‘it’s causing chaos’ and then THE NEXT DAY allow traffic to park in the lane, ensuring there is now no upside for anyone at all.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Daily Mail & General Trust, headquartered at Northcliffe House and which owns the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, MailOnline and Metro, among other titles, called for more cycleways in 2018 when it provided evidence to the transport select committee’s enquiry on active travel.

> MailOnline employee calls on council to keep Kensington High Street cycle lanes, saying “it made our journey safer”

“In order to encourage active travel, local authorities are placing particular emphasis on new cycle paths and cycle highways,” it said. “This is to be welcomed. We believe it presents an ideal opportunity, not only for cycling but for using other modes, including shared mobility solutions like e-scooters.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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16 comments

Avatar
Rendel Harris | 3 years ago
3 likes

Tory toff PM claims to be "ballistic" that Tory toff council has given into demands of Tory toff millionaires. Somehow one's irresistibly reminded of Captain Renault in Casablanca:

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Renault: I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!

Croupier: Your winnings, Captain.

Renault: Oh, thanks very much. Everybody out!

Unless and until Johnson orders any substantive action rather than leaks intended to make him look a friend of the cyclist, he will remain a hypocritical blarophant.

Avatar
Hirsute | 3 years ago
1 like
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imajez | 3 years ago
14 likes

If you want to see the remarkable attitude of Nigel Havers, one of the most outspoken critics of the cycle lane, check out his reaction to being caught drink driving. This sort of entitlement seems to be the core issue here. 
 

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andystow replied to imajez | 3 years ago
9 likes

A car is not an umbrella. What a knob.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to andystow | 3 years ago
2 likes
andystow wrote:

A car is not an umbrella. What a knob.

Well, I suppose it depends on how you carry it...

Avatar
Grahamd replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes
Captain Badger wrote:
andystow wrote:

A car is not an umbrella. What a knob.

Well, I suppose it depends on how you carry it...

Perhaps someone should have challenged him to try, lifting it up above him first to give him a helping hand.

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hawkinspeter replied to andystow | 3 years ago
1 like

Or is it?

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imajez | 3 years ago
12 likes

Once after commenting that a possible silver lining re Boris being PM was that at least he seemed to be more interested in cycling than most politicians I was informed by someone who worked  near where Boris also did, that she used to see him arrive in a car then ride the last few hundreds metres and around the corner where the press would be lurking. 
Boris Bikes were also an Ken Livingstone policy. 

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
11 likes

If only Boris the Liar had some power or credibility.

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the little onion replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
15 likes

If only he was, say, head of a govenment. Then he could do somethign about the government cutting funding for cylcing whilst maintaining that for road buildings. Or the fact that the govenment is budgeting to spend over 100 times as much money building new motorways as they are for cycling.... the man is a Liar and and Fraud

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StuInNorway | 3 years ago
7 likes

Over 24hrs after that screenshot was taken from the CCTV og Kensington High Street, that silver van was STILL parked there.

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markieteeee replied to StuInNorway | 3 years ago
7 likes

It was still there this morning, so close to 48 hours

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orangecannonim | 3 years ago
12 likes

Well I'm back cycle commuting tomorrow, and I travel via Chiswick, Hammersmith, Kensington hight Street etc.
the route here was a pleasant surprise, some of it just being bollards on existing white lines, some new infrastructure.
This road is a disaster for cars, and the problems are the junctions. These are also the biggest problem for bikes here, with so many busy left turns and left hand only lands that you need to move out of to go straight on.
all the roads leading to this are single carriageway, so I don't get why people need a 2 lane dual carriageway up a high street anyway

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Rendel Harris replied to orangecannonim | 3 years ago
11 likes

Absolutely. I've been riding it two-three times a week both pre- and -post cycle lane and the difference to motor traffic has been absolutely minimal, whereas the difference for cyclists has been phenomonal. The fact that the Daily Mail/Nigel Havers capmaign to remove it appears to have been predicated on the fact that Lord Northcliffe perceived that he wasn't getting to his office quite as swiftly in his chauffeur-driven limo, and that this has clearly influenced the RBKC decision, is an absolute scandal.

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TheBillder replied to Rendel Harris | 3 years ago
3 likes

How can the noble lord need to get to his office in London when he lives and works in France? Or at least that's where he says he pays his tax.

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Rendel Harris replied to TheBillder | 3 years ago
0 likes
TheBillder wrote:

How can the noble lord need to get to his office in London when he lives and works in France? Or at least that's where he says he pays his tax.

 

These are deep waters indeed...

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