LCC blasts ‘flimsy’ argument for cycling plan veto

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is questioning Kensington and Chelsea Council’s decision to block a flagship safer cycling scheme.

The council, one of the wealthiest in the country, announced its veto of the plan before a formal consultation had ended, blocking the scheme because an overwhelming majority of residents opposed the idea. However, counsellors were also unable to say how it knew the people who contacted them about the scheme actually lived in the borough.

The LCC said the lack of basic information about what people actually said made this argument ‘beyond flimsy’, while Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London saying it had ‘made a total mockery of the consultation’.

Elizabeth Campbell, leader of the council, said about 1,000 emails and letters had been sent to the council, and 6,500 people signed a petition opposing the removal of trees as part of the scheme. But, when asked, the council was unable to say how many of the 1,000 people in fact supported the scheme, or whether all those who wrote in were automatically counted as opponents without checking.

Transport for London (TfL), which wants to build the route, will publish the results of a formal consultation in the coming weeks that has received more than 5,000 responses.