Our response to the Lupus Street consultation

Dear Westminster

Thank you for consulting Westminster Cycling Campaign about these proposals. We are the local group of the London Cycling Campaign.

We support these proposals overall with some caveats, outlined below. Our first and most important point is that the most effective way to make cycling safer for all ages and abilities, as well as transforming the shopping experience on Lupus Street, would be area-wide removal of through motor traffic, with exceptions for buses and emergency vehicles. 

We are pleased that measures are proposed to reduce further the danger of cycle lanes next to car doors along Lupus Street. Widening the lanes as part of the original Covid Movement Strategy was helpful but did not entirely solve the problem. Leaving a buffer strip between the parked vehicles and the cycle lane is more effective. Running the cycle lanes between floating parking bays and the kerb could have been even more effective, if the carriageway width had been considered adequate; but again, removing the through traffic would mean that neither measure was necessary.

The proposed cycle lanes have the unfortunate shortcoming that they are interrupted by bus stops. There are three westbound and two eastbound bus services along Lupus Street between Sutherland Street and Claverton Street / St George’s Drive. So cyclists will quite often have to contend with buses stopping along the street.

We are pleased to note that double yellow lines are proposed for the sections where the advisory cycle lanes run next to the kerb. Without these, vehicles could block the cycle lanes by parking in them. But we recognise that loading and unloading would still be allowed.

The current proposals address only the section of Lupus Street west of the junction with Claverton Street / St George’s Drive. In the section east of that junction, there is still a narrow cycle lane next to the parking bays. We urge the council to make this safer as a matter of urgency.

We have posted similar comments in the on-line questionnaire on commonplace.is.

We hope the proposals provoke a favourable response and look forward to their implementation.

Yours sincerely,
Colin Wing.