Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has admitted that the current short-term funding provided by the government to Transport for London (TfL) means it is “extremely difficult” to deliver plans to fully overhaul the notorious Holborn Gyratory system in central London to make it safer for cyclists.

He was responding to a question asked in January (link is external) by Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, who chairs the Transport Committee at City Hall, and who in October accepted a 7,500-signature petition to deliver to the Mayor from London Cycling Campaign (LCC) calling on the gyratory system and other dangerous junctions in the capital to be made safer for cyclists.

The petition was delivered to her by LCC campaigns manager Simon Munk at the junction of Theobald’s Road and Southampton Row where paediatrician Dr Dr Marta Krawiec was killed last August while cycling to work.

In her question to the Mayor, Pidgeon asked: “What specific actions have been taken by (a) TfL and (b) Camden Council in relation to making Holborn Gyratory safe for cyclists during the month of January?”

The Mayor said: “Works to implement cycling safety improvements at the Southampton Row/Theobald’s Road junction have continued to progress well.

“During January 2022, the work outlined in my previous answer to Mayor’s Question 2022/0280 to develop detailed designs and temporary traffic management plans was completed,” he continued.

“Construction began on site and included the removal of traffic signals (to be replaced), excavation works and the start of works on a pavement build-out for a relocated bus stop.

“TfL and Camden Council have worked together to implement temporary traffic signals, in a manner which minimises disruption and maintains safety during the construction period.”

Khan’s reply came on 23 March – but in the intervening time yet another cyclist, former corporate lawyer Shatha Ali, was killed elsewhere on the same gyratory system, the eighth such fatality in the area since 2008, with large vehicles such as coaches and lorries involved in each death.

Subsequently, LCC held the latest in a series of vigils at Holborn, once again calling for safer roads, and attended by hundreds of cyclists.

Referring to the latest death of a cyclist there, the Mayor added: “Following yet another tragic death at the Holborn Gyratory on Tuesday 2nd March, TfL are working hard with Camden Council to try and restart the wider project to make all parts of the gyratory safer, but the ongoing short term funding deals from the Government make planning and delivering complex schemes such as this extremely difficult.”

https://road.cc/content/news/khan-funding-crunch-hampers-making-holborn-junction-safer-291503

On 29/03/2022 20:16, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has admitted that the current short-term funding provided by the government to Transport for London (TfL) means it is “extremely difficult” to deliver plans to fully overhaul the notorious Holborn Gyratory system in central London to make it safer for cyclists.

Perhaps cyclists could put their hands in their pockets for once,
instead of other people's?

--
Spike

TfL has lost many billions of pounds in fare revenues over the course of the pandemic (Khan having previously reduced much of the £9BN debt left by the previous incumbent, who was he again?) and the government has deliberately drip fed emergency aid and hedged it with unpopular conditions in order to undermine the mayoralty. When Khan states that it's difficult to find the money in these circumstances he's just being honest, in richer times he has proved again and again to be a supporter of cycling and introduced numerous initiatives which I can attest from personal experience have made cycling in London much safer. The people who don't care are the government, who have always tried to undermine TfL in order to make Khan unpopular (a prime example being that they were going to pass control of London's overground rail operations to City Hall before Khan was elected, then vetoed that when he won). Fortunately Londoners have the sense to see through this.

On 30/03/2022 10:54 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> TaL has lost many billions of pounds in fare revenues over the course of the pandemic (Khan having previously reduced much of the £9BN debt left by the previous incumbent, who was he again?) and the government has deliberately drip fed emergency aid and hedged it with unpopular conditions in order to undermine the mayoralty. When Khan states that it's difficult to find the money in these circumstances he's just being honest, in richer times he has proved again and again to be a supporter of fairy-cycling and introduced numerous initiatives which I can attest from personal experience have made fairy-cycling in London much safer. The people who don't care are the government, who have always tried to undermine TaL in order to make Khan unpopular (a prime example being that they were going to pass control of London's overground rail operations to City Hall before Khan was elected, then vetoed that when he won). Fortunately Londoners have the sense to see through this.

Why should taxpayers pay the fares of London residents and commuters?

If Transport against London is broke, let it go officially bankrupt and
pass into the hands of a person or organisation who can make it run in a
financially-sound and non-political manner.

David Quackeroo | 8 posts | 1 hour ago
1 like

I'm sure that there isn't much money for improvements, but that's what priorities are about. There are countless vanity projects Khan has announced over the last 12 months. What was his excuse in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 when he was also aware of the problem?

Also, you watch, he will still mysteriously have the funds for his cavalcade of cars to take his dog for a walk. The guy is a joke, worst mayor ever!

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lesterama replied to David Quackeroo | 243 posts | 1 hour ago
2 likes

Nowhere near as bad as Boris, who took all the credit for Ken's projects (Olympics, Barclays bikes etc etc), came up with vanity projects (Garden Bridge, new airport etc etc) and left a massive hole in City Hall's finances.