Published: 10 November 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY

CYCLING campaigners have been warned that the Town Hall will not play hardball with London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) over road safety.

Labour chiefs have been accused of giving the authorities an easy ride in the aftermath of a series of deaths on roads in the south of Camden and Islington.

Asked to explain the council’s position on Monday night, Camden’s environment chief, Councillor Sean Birch, said: “Our relationship with TfL is paramount.”

He was speaking as cycle safety campaigners led a deputation to an all-member council meeting in the main chamber. They claim that TfL’s decisions and priorities place the speed of traffic flow through the city ahead of the welfare of cyclists.

There is anger that fashion student Deep Lee, 24, died at a junction near the Lighthouse Building in King’s Cross last month even though the road had for many months been identified as being in need of safety improvements specifically for cyclists.

Alerts about the daily dangers of Camden Road in Camden Town were also forwarded to TfL before the death of Paula Jurek on the stretch at the junction near St Pancras Way earlier this year. Both women were knocked down in collisions with heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

John Chamberlain, from the Camden Cycling Campaign, told the meeting that when they had queried TfL over why junctions that were identified as problem areas had not been made safer, the response had been tepid.

He said: “We are told ‘the traffic flows won’t allow us to do this’. What they are saying essentially is that somebody’s time is a lot more valuable than somebody’s life. We want that to change.”

“It is a Camden issue and we hold Camden responsible for allowing TfL to do what they do.”

The issue of cycling safety, particularly around King’s Cross, has been raised several times at the Town Hall in recent years.

Ms Lee was the 11th woman to die in the south of Camden and Islington while riding a bike. In the case of Ms Jurek, whose death is due to be investigated by a coroner’s inquest later today (Thursday), there were claims that officials were worried about bus routes being slower if junctions and road layouts were changed around Camden Road.

It has also been claimed by prominent cycling campaigners, including Lib Dem councillor Paul Braithwaite, the council’s “cycling champion”, that the problem is so bad that a hardline approach towards TfL is now necessary.

This includes the idea of bringing corporate manslaughter charges on the premise that there has been a failure to make roads safe.

At Monday’s debate, Mr Chamberlain said: “Corporate manslaughter charges worked for the railways and it was about the only thing that got their attention – and it may be the only thing that gets the Mayor and TfL’s attention.”

One of the suggestions for a safer route is to rip out the King’s Cross gyratory road route.

Mr Chamberlain added: “We have always been against gyratory systems. They make journeys more dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, they speed up traffic.”

Cllr Birch was later criticised by cyclists for not pledging to get tough with TfL on the issue. Some of his fellow Labour group members expressed surprise that after a week of internal discussions his response – his first public statement to the council on what has become one of the biggest issues in Camden – was not more assertive and combative.

One source said that some members felt a chance to send a forceful message to Boris Johnson had been missed.

Cllr Birch told the meeting that he offered condolences to those affected by the bike death tragedies in Camden, adding: “None of us want to see more tragedies on the road.”

Then, responding to the claim that Camden is not doing enough to put pressure on TfL to get on with safety improvements, Cllr Birch said: “When it comes to pressurising TfL we need to realise that working with TfL is the key to our success because that’s where all our funding comes from. So our relationship with TfL is paramount.”

He added: “We have to work with TfL and we need to maintain a good relationship with TfL and be really clear about our priorities for the whole of the borough rather than a specific location.

“The idea is to push them as much as we can to get these works done as quickly as we can at the most serious places where road safety is a problem.

You need to realise when it comes to lobbying, I’ve written to the Mayor, the leader has raised on many occasions the problems at the junctions, particularly King’s Cross with Peter Hendy (of TfL) and also in London Congress meetings, and all this is backed up by the work of our dedicated transport officers.”

TfL have promised to finish safety improvements around junctions in King’s Cross by the London Olympics with work beginning in January.