Francesca was on her workday commute from Shepherd’s Bush to Bloomsbury. She welcomes the protected cycleway.

Miguel is a cycling champ who rides all the way from Wimbledon every work day and thinks greater cycling infrastructure can only be a good thing.

Megha was embarking on her journey on a rental bike & only began cycling in the city, during the summer. She commented, ‘safety first, right?’, when we let her know about the proposed changes.

Then the consultation opened and things started to heat up (despite the January chill!). It appeared as though Residence Associations and neighboring Ex MP’s were going on the offensive. Over one weekend, 400 negative responses were given, launching quite an outrageously misinformed attack on the scheme, claiming pedestrians and the disabled were at risk. This despite the fact that active travel upgrades routinely betters pavements, sight lines and crossings for all non-motoring road users. This scheme was no different…

Then ex-MP Felicity Buchan put out the below video on facebook which really stoked the fire. It was quite a shocking indictment of the scheme which painted cyclists as thugs who routinely mowed down vulnerable pedestrians, while claiming that traffic lanes would be reduced (patently untrue on both fronts). This ignited a bit of a media frenzy… subequent coverage below from Westminster Extra, The Standard and Road.cc

And so began our counter campaign to set the facts straight. While the video claims that Bayswater Rd “already” has a cycle lane it then helpfully shows a taxi veering dangerously into it, because paint isn't infrastructure! And as is so often the case, a painted line doesn't stop traffic from loading and stopping in it. The video goes on to say "Westminster council now wants to remove a lane of traffic to segregate it”, when most of the route is already only one lane. For the brief period it’s two, it's still single-file due to parking and loading. The video then repeatedly shows a man walking into a cycle lane and getting run over by someone on a lime bike, while stating ‘disabled and elderly residents have raised serious concerns’. This horribly misleading clip paints the cycling community as callous thugs (when we know the cycling commuters are routinely the respectful citizens you see at the top of this page). It also casually omits the fact that the plans improve access for pedestrians and disabled by pdating crossings and using better sightlines. The video then states people will be forced to cross a cycle lane to reach a bus - yes, with zebra crossings on them! Felicity seems to have forgotten that cars are by far the greater danger to people, over bicycles.

Thankfully, this campaign saw the community rally with gusto in defense of cyclists and of infrastructure plans, pushing the consultation responses up by a further 900, almost exclusively in favour. With the consulation, now closed, Westminster council will need to stand strong in it’s leadership to make sure the voices of the many, not the few are counted. It’s also a reminder that the battle for cleaner air and safer streets is one that still rages in W2 and can still be hijacked by those more concerned with inner city resident motorists, as opposed to the vast majority who increasingly walk, cycle and take public transport.