So here we go again! Kingston Station is at the heart of Kingston’s cycling network. It’s where the main routes from Wheatfield Way and nearby Old London Road converge, as well as other bike routes to the town centre, the riverside, and north along Richmond Road. But only a hundred metres away, a revised planning application has been submitted to rip out the existing protected bike lane on Richmond Road. So what’s going on?

Kingston Gate is a proposed development, building over a car park and an adjacent busy road. The developers propose diverting this traffic onto Richmond Road, but they want to remove the protected bike lane in order to do so. This will completely sever this route, and their proposed cycling diversion on the pavement and around the back of the shops is a waste of time.

If this seems familiar, it’s because the same developers proposed something similar in 2021. But this time there’s no phase 2 proposed, no reinstatement of the bike lane at any point in the future, and so removing this protected bike lane will be permanent.

This has to be stopped before it gets started, or we will lose this route forever. Richmond Road is a key cycling artery, both now and for the future. The council should be providing protected space for southbound cycling, never mind retaining the northbound protected route. The Council’s own plans are to upgrade the cycling route all along Richmond Road, and earlier this month they applied to TfL for millions of pounds of funding to do so. But this planning application will ruin it all, if it goes ahead.

It’s not too late for the developers to change their proposals, or for the council to reject them. But for this to happen we need your support.

How to Object

Kingston Cycling Campaign have already submitted our detailed objection to this scheme – covering much more than the problems covered here. But the best way to ensure this route is kept is for everyone to add your own objections – we know from experience that the more objections, the more weight is given to them.

If you objected in 2021, please also object again today!

• Visit the application on the council’s website: 19/02323/FUL
• Fill in the form, and pick “Object” as your stance
• Tick “Access or traffic problems”
• In the comment, say that you object to the proposal on the grounds of Road Safety, that you object to the removal of the protected bike lane on Richmond Road, and you object to there being no consideration of a southbound protected bike lane being added at any stage of the project or in the future.

Note that comments have to be submitted by the end of Tuesday 26th November 2024 – so please take a minute and submit yours right now!