My name is Georges Assi and I am a resident of Kensington W8, and on the board of the Victoria Road Area Residents’ Association. I am writing to you in my personal capacity, as someone who is a massive user of Hyde Park, where I run, cycle, walk my dog, play with my family, commute to work, and recharge my batteries. I am a lifetime member of the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Hyde Park is my favorite place on Earth, and although I have travelled around the globe, to distant mountains and remote islands, this is my special place. Hyde Park is an oasis of peace, beauty, oxygen, a critically important element of mindfulness in a hectic city.
I am writing to you to ask for the reopening of South Carriage Drive during weekdays.
I understand that there was a public consultation and that the vast majority of respondents decided to support the extension of the closure of this road. It’s hard to disagree that parks should be car-free, that we should protect the environment, promote less pollution, and encourage more cycles, more runners, a more active commute, etc.
But once again a valid and non-controversial objective is being jeopardised because it’s taken one step too far: the roadworks in Knightsbridge, combined with the closure of the South carriage drive, as well as the North carriage drive, combined with the bottlenecks at the top of serpentine, combined with the reopening of the economy, are creating a massive bottleneck, which is harming everyone: buses, drivers, taxis, emergency vehicles, trucks, delivery vans, are all at a standstill trying to cross the Knightsbridge junction. As a result: more pollution for all. And a clogged passage from West to East, without viable alternatives. Journey times extended beyond acceptable levels, damaging the economy.
I played an active role in organising the support that RBKC needed in their decision not to reinstate the temporary Cycle Lane on High St Kensington, by coordinating the action of 25 residents’ associations in the area, representing 3,400 households, and inviting them to co-sponsor the open letter below. This was a historical achievement in the sense that never before had all the main RA’s in the borough come together in such a united way. The reason was that everyone understood that opposing the cycle lane did not mean being anti-cycling, or anti-environment, or anti-progress. It just meant being sensible and respecting the balance of all the users in a city where all forms of transport have to be respected.
The same ingredients are involved here.
I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss this request with you or the relevant person in your team.
Best regards,
Georges Assi
Very reasoned appeal
ReplyDeleteThe underlying issue is too many unnecessary vehicle journeys. Traffic in RBKC has increased by 50 million miles per year since 2013. Most London vehicle journeys are short, with one able-bodied person, and could have been made on foot, bike or public transport. The main source of delays to those in vehicles whether emergency services or others is other vehicles. They are also the source of danger to pedestrians and those on bike, with the consistent annual > 100 KSIs in RBKC caused by people driving vehicles. No serious action is being taken by RBKC to address this. EVs simply replace one form of road danger and congestion with another one that is less polluting, but still polluting both locally and globally. The contained failure of RBKC to provide realistic safe infrastructure for those that currently, or may in the future, wish to travel by bike, furthers this problem. For all the talk of "balance", not being anti-bike and so forth, nothing is actually being done by the people uttering these words. In the case of High Street Ken, I'd take you to https://betterstreets4kc.org.uk/campaigns/high-street-kensington/ for an explanation. As for re-opening a park for traffic, adding road space for vehicles has not proved a winning strategy in reducing traffic. A less comfortable truth may be that we need to realise that the increasingly isolated RBKC approach of doing nothing to address high volumes of vehicle traffic has consequences, and energies should be directed to this rather than to opening a park to cars and removing safety schemes from dangerous roads.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that campaigner's forget is that London is a global city and road transport is essential for emergency vehicles, certain key workers, deliveries, contractors, the old / infirm / disabled etc Not everyone or everything can be carried on a bike or on the tube / in a bus.
ReplyDeleteBoth the North and South Carriage Drive are within the ULEZ zone so the type of vehicles ( polluting v non polluting ) can be policed. There are now cycle lanes and plenty of room for pedestrians within the park and on most thoroughfares.
I own a small business ( directly employing 6 people and indirectly employing hundreds ). I depend on being able to use my vehicle for deliveries for and to service my clients. At not an inconsiderable expense I bought a fully electric vehicle, for environmental reasons, and therefore not polluting of the environment in London ( the argument at a macro scale of the impact of producing the cars is another matter and I don't pretend to know enough about this). Roads are not dangerous if well sign posted and there are traffic calming measures. It is naive to expect the economy to function without road transportation.
There's no talk about removing all vehicles from London. That line is often used to make "campaigners" sound extreme and unreasonable, but it's not true. Speaking as a someone who knows a lot about business and global cities, as well as transport needs of key workers, and certainly doesn't forget either, congestion in London is caused not by essential journeys like emergency service vehicles but rather by private cars and PHEVs making vehicle journeys that could have been done in other ways. Have a look at the City of London and what they are doing - they know a thing or two about business. It's great that you have invested in an EV, but do also note that sadly you are still polluting the local environment through a combination of particulate matter from tyre wear, brake pad erosion and road surface erosion (as well as the action of a vehicle passing which brings to the air particulate lying on the ground). A lot of this particulate is pm2.5 and extremely harmful to health. Again, you may have no option but to use a vehicle, and an EV is better than an ICE, but it's sadly just not true that they are not polluting locally. As I say, you may have no option and are doing the best you can, and it may be the only realistic way for you to service your customers.
DeleteThings are not helped by the proliferation of partial or total road closures for construction, cable laying and goodness knows what else. It never ends
ReplyDeleteLondon is a working city not a national park; vehicles cannot simply be shunted off roads by closing them willy nilly, however much able-bodied cyclists/ scooterists/ joggers might wish. The problem of engine emissions is exacerbated by causing pinch points that actually cause more jams - such as at Lancaster Gate/ Hyde Park & South Carriage Drive/ Knightsbridge. Chiswick High Road is a nightmare vision of how not to 'manage' traffic. Uncoordinated roadworks due to utilities companies being allowed to repeatedly dig up streets are another problem that could be controlled. Earl's Court Road is now often reduced to a standstill due to buses holding up traffic because the bus stops have been lost to tarmac for no good reason. Discouraging parking around high streets means local retailers suffer and streets become even more congested with endless home delivery vans and courier motorbikes as people move to online shopping. As with everything in life, striking a sensible balance is key. It is time both the cycle and car lobbies and the Mayor, responsible for so many botched traffic calming schemes, realised this.
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