On 25 September, Cllrs Elizabeth Hitchcock and Rachael Robathan were joined by police and representatives from both Lime and Forest Bikes for a day of action across Knightsbridge and Belgravia.
While we all want to encourage safe cycling, the day was designed to crackdown on cyclists jumping red lights, riding on pavements and ignoring pedestrian crossings. It was also really good to show both Lime and Forest representatives where the major problems have been occurring across our part of Westminster, with bike dumping blocking pavements and causing real disruption to local people.
We are very pleased that, following their commitment to monitor the locations we highlighted much more closely, the situation has improved considerably. However, this is something we will continue to look at closely.
Cllr Elizabeth Hitchcock explained,
"We've been out this morning with police and representatives from Lime and Forest Bikes. We recognise cycling is important in Westminster and we want to encourage active cycling and active transport. But there are problems associated with cycling and we've been discussing some of those this morning."
Sergeant Claire Napper continued:
"This is a classic case of you as residents and we as the wider Knightsbridge and Belgravia team did. You told your councillors that you were frustrated about the obstructions on the pavements, you told your councillors and you told us that you were getting annoyed with certain cyclists that are committing offences throughout the ward. Today in the Knightsbridge and Belgravia Councillors Day of Action, we've tackled those.
"From a policing perspective, we've had four hotspot areas that we've been to, we've been issuing tickets, all sorts of offences, cycling on the pavement, going the wrong way down the street, and we'll be doing a red light check later on. And we've issued various tickets and we've also educated people because it's really Important that people are safe on the streets."
Cllr Rachael Robathan concluded:
"Now, it's been a great joint day, actually. We've got quite a few sessions still to go, working with our great local police team and having Forest and Lime here so we could show them spots like here at Ebury Street, West Halkin Street and also in Belgrave Square, where we've got a real problem. "But also tackling the unsafe practices, jumping red lights, traffic crossing, pedestrian crossings. So it's been really important and we hope that it will really start to tackle the poor behaviour of the few cyclists who are really causing a problem here so we can encourage safe cycling across Westminster."
