Marylebone to West End
Have your say on this consultation
Consultation closes on 30 September
Marylebone to West End cycle route alignment
Westminster City Council are asking people to comment on the alignment of an east-west cycle route from Marylebone to the West End, parallel to Oxford Street, with five options to choose between.
We have serious concerns about this flawed, biased consultation. The council is putting more weight on ‘not removing parking bays’ than on preventing collisions and keeping people safe.
For a quick response
The questionnaire has a free text box for your comments. If you agree, you could make these points in your own words:
The consultation gives as much weight to ‘not impacting on parking or loading’ when considering a route as ‘safety’!
Whatever route they pick, they need to provide either a) protected cycle tracks or b) remove all through traffic, eg with a bus gate, to make it safe and inviting for all-ability cycling
However, we are concerned that the Manchester Square alignment is quite indirect and could be hard to find and to follow.
Finally, the council needs to build not just one but several high-quality east-west cycle routes north of Oxford Street, according to TfL’s strategic cycling analysis. Or it could remove through traffic from all of Fitzrovia and Marylebone’s neighbourhood roads, to create an area-wide network of safe routes for cycling.
In more detail
A good quality east-west cycle route north of Oxford Street is badly needed in Westminster. There’s a big hole in London’s safe cycle network in this area, despite large numbers of people cycling through daily. Cycleway 27 goes through it, but is very poor quality, with no protection for cycling, a high traffic count, too many parked cars and an incoherent hard-to-follow route. Yet TfL’s strategic cycling analysis calls for multiple east-west cycle routes across the area.
Misleading on parking
“Parking/Loading: A cycle route works alongside local parking and loading requirements to minimise impact where possible” is considered as a requirement for a good cycle route in this consultation.
That is highly misleading as a ‘quality criteria’, and seems designed to get support for the ‘easiest’ route to build, by appealing to people who don’t want to lose parking spaces. It also contradicts an earlier statement from the council: “the Council is intending to continue to develop route proposals that include reassignment of kerbside space to incorporate sustainable and active travel rather than private motor vehicles” (the C43 ‘You Said We Did’ report).
Manchester Square route
The consultation then suggests that the route via Manchester Square is the best option - because no parking would need to be removed (“it has a low impact on other road users”, i.e. drivers). In fact, this route would be not much better than C27, being indirect and hard to follow, and the traffic levels may not be low enough to enable people of all ages and backgrounds to feel safe cycling without protected cycles lanes. It should only be one of several east-west cycle routes in the area, not the only one.
Best routes?
Our two favourites are the Wigmore Street alignment, which is close to Oxford Street, and the George Street / New Cavendish route with two-way cycling on protected cycle tracks. The latter would connect up most closely to Camden’s protected cycle tracks on C27.
Westminster needs YOU!
We need your help at this exciting time of change in attitude towards active travel! You don’t have to live in Westminster to join our local campaign group. If you cycle in or through Westminster, or wish you or your loved ones felt safe to do so, we could use your help. We need more active members to help with whatever you enjoy doing - creating flyers - writing content for our newsletter or website - social media - organising events or meetings - marshaling bike rides - and much more.
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