Legal challenge to cycle superhighway

CYCLING

Westminster City Council has applied for a judicial review to halt TfL’s construction of Cycle Superhighway 11 between Swiss Cottage and central London. 

TfL announced in May that it plans to start work on the Swiss Cottage part of the scheme next month (LTT 11 May). Swiss Cottage lies in Camden but the route then crosses into Westminster and the city council has not yet approved the route within its boundary. 

Westminster says local residents are “overwhelmingly opposed” to the proposals, adding: “We have been in discussions over the last two years with TfL about residents’ concerns but, despite assurances, we have yet to receive any further information about the wider impacts of the scheme and how these may be mitigated. As TfL is starting to proceed with the Swiss Cottage section without our support for the scheme as a whole, we have been left with no choice but to back our residents and to legally challenge the scheme.”

A source from the Mayor of London’s office said it was “disgraceful” that Westminster was trying to halt CS11 a week after rejecting plans to make a section of Oxford Street traffic-free (see main story). “The idea that Westminster Council think they can hold the rest of London to ransom is totally unacceptable. Both of these schemes have significant public support. They will make a real difference to making London’s streets safer and cleaner and they shouldn’t be held up by petty political posturing.”

CS11 would run from Swiss Cottage to Portland Place through Regent’s Park.