Protected cycle lane approved for West End: historic first for Westminster
Westminster City Council has finally approved its first high-quality cycle route - Cycleway 43 - which will run from Hyde Park through the Marylebone area.
C43 will include ‘stepped tracks’ on George Street, safely separating people on wheels from motorised traffic and pedestrians. This will make it the first significant stretch of protected cycle infrastructure ever initiated by Westminster City Council on its own roads, as opposed to those owned by the Royal Parks or Transport for London. It’s a truly historic moment and a hard-won victory for Westminster Cycling Campaign!
The new C43 ‘stepped’ cycle path will operate on George Street and be similar to the rendering here, for Gower Street
This has all been a long time coming. Westminster City Council was controlled for decades by a Conservative administration which strongly resisted cycle infrastructure on its roads, famously taking Transport for London to court over Cycle Superhighway 11. Then in 2022, Westminster Labour leader Cllr Adam Hug announced his support for a safe cycle network in Westminster if elected. Labour won, and C43 was duly consulted on in June 2023. But after a few vocal residents objected to the loss of some parking spaces, councillors allowed the original route on George Street to be derailed - despite a comfortable majority of consultation respondents being in favour. This meant valuable time was wasted considering an alternative route along Upper Berkeley Street, where the council hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to build protected tracks or remove parking (turns out it would be, due to the high traffic count).
However, thanks to our lobbying as Westminster Cycling Campaign - calling out the council in the press, as well as meetings behind the scenes - our originally endorsed, fully protected route through George Street has won out (whoop!). We’re hoping this is just the start of some real traction, by a borough that desperately needs cycling improvements, not just for its many pedaling commuters but for residents of all ages and backgrounds.
The final route for Cycleway 43. The council considered an alternative route along Upper Berkeley Street, but George Street won out.
Still a lot more to be done in Westminster…
With work dates yet to be announced on the building of the C43, it is imperative for us to keep the pressure up, so that one of the busiest boroughs for cycling (with one of the worst safety records) finally gets a coherent and safe network across all of Westminster - enabling more people of all ages to travel by bike.
It's a vision the council seemed to share back in 2022 , when they supported our vision of building a high-quality cycle network across the borough.
But even by their own measure, the announcement of one additional cycle route - in an area of London that is already woefully bereft of safe passage - is nowhere near enough. Look at any cycling map as you plan your journey through the major East/West corridor, via Marylebone - running parallel to the entire length of Oxford Street - and it is almost completely devoid of safe, accessible cycle routes. Even the addition of C43 would only traverse a part of this gaping void in London’s cycle system.
This danger zone, that we’re dubbing a cycling ‘black hole’ in the heart of the capital, is making cycling unnecessarily hazardous for those who commute through the West End.
Cycling in Westminster: “You’ve got to be a bit ballsy, otherwise you get run over”
While Councillors continue to work at a worryingly slow pace, pedaling Londoners are continuing to risk life and limb, traversing this highly trafficked area of the capital. Westminster Cycling Campaign recently caught up with people who are trying their best to navigate it safely by bike.
Henri uses a rental bike to get from Edgware Road to Soho every weekday and says he can’t find any clear cycle lanes for his route. He knows that there are great cycle lanes up by Kings Cross (provided by Camden Council), which make him feel much safer, but he has none available on his route and says it gets noticeably worse, as he nears Oxford Circus.
Henri navigating Westminster’s roads.
Chris (below), ‘If I had a dedicated cycle route…wouldn’t that be wonderful?’
Chris said of his cycle route, ‘I don't feel totally safe, but I have actually hardened myself to it, so I totally understand why most people feel completely petrified of the journey I'm just taking. You’ve got to be a bit ballsy, otherwise you get run over.’
Balraj, one of Westminster’s many rental cyclists
Balraj, using the one available cycle path in the area (C27, which has no protected space for cycling), was on his weekday commute from Notting Hill, to Bloomsbury. He said traversing this part of London was just a case of finding the ‘least worst route’ and that having a dedicated lane would be ideal but he doesn’t know of any.
Risks for cycling set to increase with Mayor’s plans for Oxford Street
The new, as yet unbuilt, C43 cycle route only goes part of the way to solving the ‘black hole’ cycling shortfall, especially when considering the mayor’s plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street. Westminster Cycling Campaign fully supports the efforts to take wheeled traffic off the Nation’s High Street but surely this means that Westminster City Council needs to take creating more safe cycling routes a lot more seriously?
Currently, traffic data shows that about 4,500 people cycle along Oxford Street every day, but cycling will not be allowed under the new pedestrianisation scheme. The need for a cycle lane through the ‘black hole’ is now even stronger. This is not just to cater for the existing brave souls who cycle here. The West End has several routes identified by Transport for London as having ‘highest’ or ‘top’ potential to shift people to cycling from other modes, if safe infrastructure is created.
Some of the thousands of cyclists on Oxford Street
The way forward
We’re now at a point where almost a quarter of the capital’s residents report that they cycle and there are an estimated 1.26 million daily cycle journeys. This is equivalent to almost a third of all daily tube journeys, proving that cycling is an increasingly vital means of transportation in the city.
Westminster sees a huge amount of this ridership, and the council recently boasted that they enjoy the most rental bicycle use in the capital - with July seeing 670,000 e-bike trips made in their jurisdiction – the most in London.
But with the protracted delays on C43, the perilous black hole running through the West End and the pending Oxford Street plans, Westminster must double down on its own platform pledges and improve on its ‘worst in the capital’ safety record.
Do you live, work or study in Westminster, or cycle in the area? Westminster Cycling Campaign needs YOU!
Help us to make our vision come true - of a Westminster where anyone can safely cycle any journey. Find out how you can get involved to win safer streets for everyone, from handing out flyers to designing them, helping out on bike rides to organising events.
Email westminster@lcc.org.uk to find out more, or click here to join our mailing list.