Only A Third Of Chiswick Residents Backed CS9

TfL suppressed data which showed lack of local support for cycle superhighway

CS9 Revised Route Between Duke Road and Dukes Avenue. Larger version

Full details of the consultation held by Transport for London (TfL) on Cycle Superhighway 9 have finally been released.

For the first time the responses broken down by postcode have been published. Just 33% of Chiswick residents supported or strongly supported the plan with over 60% opposed or strongly opposed.

The W4 postcode area was the only place where there was overall opposition to the scheme but it was also the area from which most responses were received.

56.4% of respondents from areas on the route of the superhighway were opposed to the scheme but this is largely a result of the level of opposition from the Chiswick area. Exactly half of the residents of W14 and W6 post code area supported the project with Brentford residents were in favour.

The consultation on the original design in 2017 received 5,388 responses with 84% providing a postcode. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents supported the scheme.

The detailed postcode breakdown shows that the overall majority in favour was based on overwhelming support for the project from other parts of London from which 81% of respondents backed the scheme.

In the report on the original consultation the breakdown of levels of support by postcode was not given. Councillors in the Chiswick area and the local Assembly Member, Tony Arbour, claimed that the response that they had received from constituents to the scheme was overwhelmingly negative.

This site made a Freedom of Information request to be provided with the data in February of last year in an attempt to verify these claims but this was declined on the basis that the information needed further processing before being published in the future. An appeal was made against this decision but TfL continued to refuse to release the data. The matter was reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and an investigation has been opened. It has been suggested that TfL did not want to put this information in the public domain because the Mayor, Sadiq Khan has said that his policy was not to support projects for which there was not local support.

TfL did eventually publish this data in the report on the consultation released with the planned redesigns of the scheme including a rethink of how the path operates near to Kew Bridge and links up with Kew Bridge Road. However, the table of information was buried in an appendix at the end of the report. In the body of the report a number of map based visualisations of the responses were provided which didn’t make clear how support and opposition to the scheme was broken down.

There were 391 responses from the W6 postcode area of which 43% indicated strong support and 7% support. 34% were strongly opposed and 13% opposed with just 3% neither supporting or opposed.

In the W14 postcode area 44% of 252 respondents were strongly in favour and 6% broadly in favour with 37% strongly against and 12% broadly against with just 1% undecided.

For the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham as a whole, with responses from Shepherd's Bush and Fulham included, 56% of respondents were in favour.

The consultation on the original design in 2017 received 5,388 responses with 84% providing a postcode. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents supported the scheme.

The detailed postcode breakdown shows that the overall majority in favour was based on overwhelming support for the project from other parts of London from which 81% of respondents backed the scheme

TfL did eventually publish this data in the report on the consultation released with the planned redesigns of the scheme including a rethink of how the path operates near to Kew Bridge and a section of Chiswick High Road. However, the table of information was buried in an appendix at the end of the report. In the body of the report a number of map based visualisations of the responses were provided which didn’t make clear how support and opposition to the scheme was broken down.

The consultation on the revised designs for two sections of the route is now open and will run until 26 February. Minor changes to the scheme on other parts of the route are not being consulted on.

Responses can be submitted online at tfl.gov.uk/kew-duke, by post to FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS or by e-mail to consultations@tfl.gov.uk.

February 3, 2019