Cyclist explains why riders "aren't very grateful for tiny painted cycle lane" on notorious route where council ripped out segregated bike lane; Pothole "roads emergency"; The incredible lengths London bike thieves will go to steal + more on the live blog

You might remember the cycle lane saga on Kensington High Street that is coming up to its four-year anniversary this winter. For those who don't, here's a 30-second recap... 

The major route had a segregated cycle lane [pictured above] installed during the Covid pandemic. However, come December of 2020, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's (RBKC) Conservative-controlled council decided to remove the protected cycling infrastructure, returning the road to its old state after pressure from the area's Tory MP and actor Nigel Havers over congestion concerns. To nobody's surprise, the congestion the bike lane was apparently causing was not addressed by scrapping the scheme and long queues of backed-up stationary traffic can still be seen at almost all times of the day, the cyclists who use the route questioning for what benefit their journeys have been made more dangerous and less accessible.

Now almost four years on and the council, in its heart-warming benevolence, decided to give cyclists a thin strip of painted cycle lane instead, a decision that Jeremy Vine told the council it can "shove up their exhaust pipe" and prompted the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) to accuse the local authority of prioritising drivers.

Well, courtesy of Ryan Wilson, here is a cyclist's experience of using the new infrastructure, a cycle lane that RBKC councillor Cem Kemahli claimed "strikes the right balance between keeping our major through roads moving while allowing space for everyone"...

Q: Why are cyclists not very grateful for the tiny cycle lane @RBKC have painted on High Street Kensington?

A: Here are a few reasons from today’s pretty typical commute. pic.twitter.com/itUCBjNzDs

— Ryan Wilson (@rhwilson83) October 1, 2024

Vine said the footage was of an "average" day too, implying it can be worse still. 

When the former segregated lane was ripped out, the decision was branded "shameful, callous and retrograde" by the LCC, with more than 200 joining a protest ride against its removal. Among those in attendance were parents, children and staff from nearby Fox Primary School who said the infrastructure had allowed them to travel to school by bike.

Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was said to be "ballistic" at the scheme's scrapping, while an analysis of Transport for London (TfL) traffic cameras on the route suggested congestion had actually worsened in the month after the local council removed emergency bike lanes.

Sadiq Khan too appealed for the cycle lane to be reinstated, something the council rejected before campaigners lost a High Court challenge against the decision to rip out the protected infrastructure.

In July of 2023, the council announced the painted cycle lane plans, prompting even more criticism and taking us up to the present day where cyclists' experience of the route is the video shared by Ryan.

Simon Munk, infrastructure campaigner at the LCC, said: "This is still a borough where the approach to cycling still seems to be doing the least possible and revving up residents to perceive cycling as an issue for their driving rather than an opportunity to cut car use and climate emissions."

However, when the paint plan was announced, Councillor Kemahli insisted: "It's heartening to see that people are open to the idea of some cycling infrastructure on our streets and this scheme strikes the right balance between keeping our major through roads moving while allowing space for everyone.

"Making our roads safer as well as greener is a priority for us."

On the subject of potholes, Carlton Reid's latest piece for Forbes highlights the findings of a recent YouGov poll, with eight in ten respondents suggesting they would rather the government fixed potholes than build new roads.

The poll comes with the context of Labour's Transport Secretary Louise Haigh ordering an urgent review into the Department for Transport's spending, a decision on whether the new government will alter the UK's road-building programme in a bid to cut costs expected imminently. 

In the YouGov survey, 63 per cent expressed dissatisfaction with UK road conditions and 81 per cent said they would rather money was diverted to councils to fix potholes, rather than be used for new road projects.

[📷: Tom Edwards]

BBC London Transport & Environment Correspondent Tom Edwards shared this on Twitter, saying a colleague had returned to locked bike on South Bank to find their bars, shifters and stem had been stolen... Oh, and it's the second time it's happened...