Planning and discussions related to recent upgrades on Kensington High Street (A315) at Western end near borough boundary

The request was successful.

Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,

I see that you have recently resurfaced, upgraded the lighting and essentially kept the current road layout on Kensington High Street (A315) in the Western section especially where it crosses the A3220.

I am aware that there were discussions with TfL on the construction of a cycle superhighway (route 9) along this section of road. It appears that this scheme is now discontinued, but no clear statement has been made.

The eastbound entry to this set of junctions was queried by the BBC journalist Jeremy Vine, who posted a short six second video on Vine of the dangers he felt it presented:
https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status...

@BikemindedRBKC replied https://twitter.com/BikemindedRBKC/statu...
stating "Just to clarify, this junction is actually managed by Transport for London as it part of their road network."

and then
https://twitter.com/BikemindedRBKC/statu...
"When we train people we advise that they stay in the centre of the designated cycle lane. I have forwarded your video to TfL."

I am very interested to understand how the work that was pursued at this location made no changes whatsoever to the layout for cyclists.

Can you supply:
1) The correspondence between BikemindedRBKC and TfL referred to above, making clear the outcome, if any
2) Details of the last agreed plan for bike provision as part of Superhighway 9 at this set of junctions (from the bridge by Kensington Olympia all the way up to the junction at the foot of Holland Park).
3) Internal discussions that might explain what cycle provision changes were considered as part of your maintenance work
4) Any indication you can supply of what casualty reduction your officers expect from the updated layout and lighting in these locations.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Ingram

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2014-87?

I am writing to confirm that we received your information request on 16 July 2014. For your information and future communications your request has been allocated the reference number FOI2014-898. Please quote this reference in any future correspondence.

We will consider your request and respond in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Our duty is to respond promptly or at least within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Team
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226

Web: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk

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Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Dear Mr Ingram

 

Please see my replies in bold beneath each of your questions.

 

 

Regards

Mark Chetwynd

Chief Transport Policy Officer

 

--Original Message-----

From: Alex Ingram [[1]mailto:[FOI #220460 email]]

Sent: 16 July 2014 19:55

To: Freedom of Information: CP-ISD

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Planning and discussions related
to recent upgrades on Kensington High Street (A315) at Western end near
borough boundary

 

Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,

 

I see that you have recently resurfaced, upgraded the lighting and
essentially kept the current road layout on Kensington High Street (A315)
in the Western section especially where it crosses the A3220.

 

I am aware that there were discussions with TfL on the construction of a
cycle superhighway (route 9) along this section of road. It appears that
this scheme is now discontinued, but no clear statement has been made.

 

The eastbound entry to this set of junctions was queried by the BBC
journalist Jeremy Vine, who posted a short six second video on Vine of the
dangers he felt it presented:

[2]https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status...

 

@BikemindedRBKC replied
[3]https://twitter.com/BikemindedRBKC/statu...

stating "Just to clarify, this junction is actually managed by Transport
for London as it part of their road network."

 

and then

[4]https://twitter.com/BikemindedRBKC/statu...

"When we train people we advise that they stay in the centre of the
designated cycle lane. I have forwarded your video to TfL."

 

I am very interested to understand how the work that was pursued at this
location made no changes whatsoever to the layout for cyclists.

 

Can you supply:

1) The correspondence between BikemindedRBKC and TfL referred to above,
making clear the outcome, if any

 

The design of the eastbound approach to the Kensington High Street/Holland
Rd/Warwick Rd junction was discussed at the first liaison meeting after Mr
Vine sent his video.

The outcome of that discussion is that TfL, which has responsibility for
the layout of the junction, has added this to its work programme, and will
produce preliminary designs next year.

 

2) Details of the last agreed plan for bike provision as part of
Superhighway 9 at this set of junctions (from the bridge by Kensington
Olympia all the way up to the junction at the foot of Holland Park).

 

No plans for Cycle Superhighway 9 were agreed between TfL and RBKC.

 

3) Internal discussions that might explain what cycle provision changes
were considered as part of your maintenance work

 

Note that maintenance work on the eastbound side of Kensington High Street
was carried out in February 2012. More recent works were to the westbound
side. There were no discussions about cycling provision on this westbound
side of the road, nor has TfL requested any such changes (RBKC is the
highway authority responsible for the maintenance of this stretch of
Kensington High Street, and TfL is the traffic authority responsible for
the layout design).

 

4) Any indication you can supply of what casualty reduction your officers
expect from the updated layout and lighting in these locations.

 

As noted in answer to Q3, the only recent work carried out on this stretch
of Kensington High Street is resurfacing to the westbound lanes.

We would not normally expect to achieve casualty reduction through
resurfacing, albeit that a good quality smooth road surface is of
particular importance to the safety of cyclists and motorcyclists. This
section of road was relit in 2010, with one column on the south side of
the road installed this summer,  following the completion of building
works.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Alex Ingram

 

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