Anyway, the transcript of the debate is hidden away inaccessibly on the London.gov.uk website so I have extracted the bit on cycling verbatim and put it in an easy to browse google doc - anyone can see it you don’t need an account or login.  You can also download it as a word document here.  The Chair of TfL (Boris Johnson, also the Mayor)  puts in a bravura defence of TfL and ducks and dives all over the place on whether junctions should be re-engineered to make them safer for cyclists. Mr Johnson’s statement that junctions are ‘under constant review’ is fascinating – if they are under constant review why is so little timely action taken to make them safer?  Some of his sweeping comments about engineering solutions to make the road safer beggar belief as you ride through Kings Cross.  Thanks to Caroline Pidgeon AM and Jenny Jones AM for pushing hard.

Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL): When you look at some of these roundabouts, for instance, it is simply not possible to put in a dedicated lane that would protect a cyclist in the way that we would all want without totally disrupting the traffic…..

Caroline Pidgeon (AM): Yes, but what I am asking is will you commit to make sure you review these junctions personally and particularly the cycle superhighways. A lot of cyclists that I talk to see it as just some blue paint on the road and at some of the very difficult junctions – whether it is Oval or Stockwell – you have not really tackled some of the more expensive mechanics that you need to make at those junctions to make them work and safe for cyclists.

Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL): Of course. That is why –

Caroline Pidgeon (AM): Of course – is that a yes?

Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL): They are under constant review and I can tell you that I personally cycled all of these areas and I have strong views –

Caroline Pidgeon (AM): And reviewed them?

Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL): — about them. I make my views known to TfL. You have got to be honest and sometimes, Caroline, it is not the case that you could materially affect the outcome by engineering. You have got to be honest about this. You cannot just tell people that it can all be magically changed simply by rebuilding roads –

Caroline Pidgeon (AM): It is not just engineering – it goes along with training and some of the other measures from HGVs that I welcome. I still want you to be reviewing those dangerous junctions to make sure you are doing everything you can.

Jenny Jones (AM): Commissioner, thank you for your letter that you have written to me about the Kings Cross cycling death. You have offered a briefing on the whole junction which probably Val Shawcross and Caroline Pidgeon would also like to be part of. Yes, to that briefing.

Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL):  …Jenny, I really respectfully appreciate you raising this up the agenda because I take this incredibly seriously and it is of huge personal importance to me because I feel that I am the Mayor who makes a big thing about cycling and goes on and on about how wonderful it is that we have got our bike hire scheme and that we have had a 15% increase in cycling in the last year.  I am very proud of it so of course it really worries me when I read about cycling accidents.  It grieves me sometimes to see the way that TfL is blamed.  If we can do anything to ameliorate the junction that you describe, or the roundabout, and if that would really address the problem then of course we will look at it.  Sometimes I do not think that physical street works are the answer.  The answer is, very often,  to educate HGV drivers and to educate cyclists about the need not to be, as I said in my earlier answer to Caroline, caught in that position on the left.

It’s pretty clear from the Mayor’s answers  below that TfL admits that the York Way/Pentonville Road/Grays Inn Road junction does not comply with their own safety standards for cyclists. They also refuse to say why they did not act to make the junction compliant earlier.  These standard have been around for over 5 years and TfL has done nothing to make the junction comply.

TfL also seems to be on the run on its ‘review’ of junctions, eliding work on the blue lane superhighways with ‘other major junctions on the TLRN where work is planned’.  So in TfL’s own words if no work is planned on your local junction and it isn’t compliant with TfL’s cycle design standards then it’s just going to stay that way.

Mayor’s Questions – 25th January 2012

Junction at King’s Cross (1)

Question No: 313 / 2012

Caroline Pidgeon

Does the York Way/Pentonville Road/Grays Inn Road junction comply with TfL’s 2005 London Cycling Design Standards with regards to lane and carriageway width?

Written response from the Mayor

The London Cycling Design Standards 2005 (LCDS) is a best practice guidance document intended to ensure that consistently high standards are applied to new schemes in order to reduce barriers to cycling. The existing junction layout at Kings Cross was implemented some time before this best practice guidance was published. The design for the imminent pedestrian and cycle improvements at the junction did use the 2005 LCDS Guidance.

The forthcoming improvements at this junction provide:

• a wider approach to York Way in order to provide additional space for road users and cyclists

• new advanced stop lines for cyclists

• a “straight across” “one phase” crossing for pedestrians

• more space and comfort for pedestrians when waiting at and crossing the junction.

This work will be completed before the 2012 Games, which are expected to bring a large number of additional pedestrians to the Kings Cross area.

TfL will include the junction within its review of cycle safety at planned TLRN major junctions with a view to making further changes after the Games if appropriate.

TfL has also commenced a wider ranging strategic review of the Kings Cross Gyratory System.

*

Junction at King’s Cross (2)

Question No: 314 / 2012

Caroline Pidgeon

If the junction at York Way/Pentonville Road/Grays Inn Road does not comply with TfL’s standards when did you first become aware of this fact?

Written response from the Mayor

Please refer to my answer to MQ 313/2012.

*

Junction at King’s Cross (3)

Question No: 315 / 2012

Caroline Pidgeon

If the junction at York Way/Pentonville Road/Grays Inn Road does not comply with TfL’s standards please explain why TfL has failed to act to make the junction compliant with its own standards?

Written response from the Mayor

Please refer to my answer to MQ 313/2012.

*

Junction at King’s Cross (4)

Question No: 316 / 2012

Caroline Pidgeon

Please explain what correspondence TfL has had with the Metropolitan Police about the compliance of this junction at York Way/Pentonville Road/Grays Inn Road?

Written response from the Mayor

I believe that you are referring to compliance with the London Cycling Design Standards 2005.

TfL discussed the forthcoming pedestrian improvement scheme with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as part of its standard design process. Following discussions with the MPS, TfL adapted the designs for the planned pedestrian scheme in order to create some additional space for cyclists and other traffic travelling north from Grays Inn Road into York Way.

There has been no correspondence with the MPS regarding compliance with the London Cycling Design Standards.

*

Junction at King’s Cross (4)

Question No: 317 / 2012

Caroline Pidgeon

Please explain if there are other junctions on the TfL road network that are not compliant with TfL’s own standards and when they will be rectified?

Written response from the Mayor

I believe that you are referring to the London Cycling Design Standards 2005 (LCDS).

The LCDS is a best practice guidance document intended to ensure that consistently high standards are applied to new schemes in order to reduce barriers to cycling. TfL develops its schemes with reference to this guidance and always endeavours to provide the best possible cycling facilities within the constraints of the given location.

As you may be aware, TfL is undertaking a review of cycle safety at all junctions on the Barclays Cycle Superhighways implemented to date and at other major junctions on the TLRN where work is planned. More information on this review will be available soon.

The campaign is a great start, but I wonder if it isn’t a little naive in exhorting reviews and new bureaucrats such as cycle commissioners.  Years of hard nosed campaigning leads me to think that this sort of thing will achieve little.  In London the Mayor will announce a review of whatever he feels like that will report conveniently far after the Mayoral elections.  One or two high profile junctions will be fiddled with but the systemic problems of the Mayors traffic flow policy will continue.

The people who work in and run our major civic bureaucracies know what needs to be done to make cyclists safer at persistently dangerous junctions.  They just make the chilling choice not to do it.  They put cars and ‘traffic flow’ first.  To my mind campaigners now have to take the courts to hold our politicians and bureaucracies to account.  This is why we have driven so hard here on holding TfL to account for corporate manslaughter over the Deep Lee death in Kings Cross.

Prosecutions though mean the police upping their game to initiate prosecutions of people in councils that they work with day to day to manage safe roads.  In London the Mayor is in charge of the police and TfL, which makes things very complex indeed.

Boris Bike Accident In Clerkenwell

It’s fine to praise a good looking piece of architecture and I would never stint in my praise for the trades that do the fine work.   But as Terminal 5 fans found out it’s the real working experience that counts not what it looks like.  Also of course in today’s straightened times one always has to ask ‘How much did that cost?’ and it’s corollary ‘How much was it supposed to cost?’.

Large capital intensive projects have a tendency to run over budget.  In modern public sector construction the budget is just one control factor – time is often more important (see the Jubilee Line extension).  Network Rail often buys ‘outcomes’, rather than building to a strict budget.  So when you can see you are going to over-run your original budget you just increase the budget, it’s the outcome the counts, instead of just stopping building and doing something much less ambitious.  As we saw in the ludicrous saga of their own offices in the Eastern Range it was more important for Network Rail to have nice offices to sit in than build to a budget or just stop building and wasting public money.

So how much has the Kings Cross refurbishment cost and what did they originally say it was going to cost?  Well it’s very hard to say, the budget for the Kings cross refurbishment is like a bar of soap.  I asked the Office of Rail Regulation (as Network Rail is a monopoly and can set prices for using the tracks it is regulated by the government).   Over several months (the ORR aren’t quick to reply) i finally got to the Kafkaesque dialogue below where i try to pin down what the work was originally slated to cost and what it is now expected to turn out at making like for like comparisons.

Local people with long memories will recall Ian Fry (a Network Rail director) I think saying at a public meeting in Kings Cross that the budget was ‘around £400m’ – he seems to be talking about the ‘enhancement work’ –  probably putting on the glass bubble and reconfiguring the passenger flows in 2005 thought to cost £280m.  In other correspondence ORR tell me that Network Rail planned to spend £374m in 2010-11 prices.  But the out turn of £516 million below includes a fair bit of extra work.  It seems that the full scheme now in train was originally slated to cost £485m, now a £31m or 6% overspend.  Something here doesn’t quite add up as we know from DfT that their own offices alone overspent by as much as £60m.  Maybe heroic efficiencies were made in the scheme.  But given this degree of opacity we’ll never know.  And remember folks – Network Rail said that they couldn’t afford a pedestrian bridge over the throat of the station which they costed at a bloated £20m.

I’d welcome any suggestions as to how to get to the bottom of this and would challenge journalists writing up puff pieces about the architecture in the interests of balance to dig deep into original and out turn like for like budgets. You can build a hell of a lot of primary schools for this money or ten royal yachts.

The recent Panorama on Network Rail’s questionable transparency and cost control was in part driven by me revealing this nonsense to them privately.

Email Dialogue with ORR (my questions in italics, will publish full dialogue in a pdf in due course):

a) the original budget for the kings cross refurbishment as first revealed to you

June 2003 Network Rail business plan, £ 624 240 000 in money of the day.

b) what was the first budget ORR approved or otherwise signed off on

The first formal submission relating to the current scheme November 2005, dealt with the enhancement element only for the works at £280M.

c) what is now (December 2011) regarded at this advanced stage as the stable budget for the project

The first submission to the ORR for the full scheme, enhancements and renewals, in October 2006 confirmed removal from the enhancements element of the LUL contribution for the Northern Ticket Hall of £40M, and confirmed the renewal element to be £180M, i.e. a total forecast of £420M at 2005 prices. It had some exclusions and reflected work scope at the time, (at GRIP Stage 4). Uplifting this figure to current prices using RPI adds £65M to take the total to £485M.

The ORR approved figures for CP4 submitted in 2008, which were published in the CP4 Delivery Plan dated 31 March 2009. Hence total figures are CP3 at £170M plus CP4 at £329M. Uplifting this figure to current prices using RPI adds £17M to take the total to £516M.

d) what ORR’s forecast out turn is against this budget or what NR have told you they will turn out at

The current outturn forecast, exclusive of third party / non RAB funded works is £514M at current prices. This increases to £547M with the addition of additional third party / non RAB funded works.

Inspired by our own John Ashwell’s initiative to plant hundreds of trees in the north east quadrant of King’s Cross, Camden Council have put out a plea to anyone that wants to green a little bit of King’s Cross on the Camden side.

King’s Cross falls in the top 10% of neighbourhoods in the entire country that face deprivation specifically because of lack of access to open or green spaces. There will be some green in the new King’s Cross Central, but not nearly enough. If you have an idea – no matter how small or impossible it might seem, contact the Green Camden zone initiative for support. They can offer resources and materials.

When greening small areas of inner city London, it’s best to let your imagination run riot. Don’t be put off by ownership issues – just because an unloved area that depresses your local community is in private hands doesn’t mean you can’t transform it into a green oasis to put a smile on your neighbours faces.

John Ashwell had no reason to stick his oar in when it came to planting trees in the streets in his area of King’s Cross. But he cared. He cared enough to raise the money from neighbours and local businesses. He cared enough to take the lead role negotiating with the council to match every penny he raised pound for pound, and to undertake all the surveying, planting and future maintenance of the trees.

John’s inspiring and completely voluntary work doesn’t end there. He is one of the three founders of King’s Cross Community Projects whose vertical landscape project takes creating green walls to a whole new level. The combined art installation and garden will be sited on private land – part owned by a major housing association and part by a commercial   office space developer. That hasn’t stopped the project – John and his pals wanted to transform their community and they are about to do just that. And they raised the funds via Islington Council so it can be done.

So, if you have an idea to make some space near you greener for the benefit of all your neighbours- no matter how mad it might seem – contact Camden Council.

Cllr Nasim Ali, Leader of Camden Council, took local democracy another step forward this afternoon by taking part in a live web chat on the wearecamden.org website. A number of issues relevant to the KX area were asked by various participants, and Cllr Ali gave the following answers:

Q How will LBC make sure the consultation to be done by TfL this year into removing the dangerous gyratory at KX is inclusive, transparent and truly effective? It’d be so easy for it to result in another ineffectual report on the shelf.

A It’s really important that the study and consultation engages with the right people. This issue can’t be buried away once completed. Both TfL, Camden and Islington need to look at the findings and work up a solution that benefits all road users.
Our culture and environment scrutiny committee has been looking into cycling in King’s Cross and I’m sure the chair Councillor Simpson and the other committee members would value input from you as to how the consultation can be as inclusive as possible.

Q Given the number of people that are going to pass thro as well as stay in the KX area during the Olympics, what will LBC do to ensure pedestrian and cyclist safety in the area given it’s so very dangerous

A Regarding your question about ensuring pedestrian and cycle safety during the olympics, I’ve personally been involved in meetings with TFL and Locog regarding pedestrian and public safety. I can assure you that plans are being developed to address these issues. Work to improve two of the junctions that we have concerns about will be completed before the Olympics.

Q The ‘improvement’ to the junction between EustonRd/PentonvilleRd/YorkWay will make the junction potentially more dangerous for cyclists. Given the number of fatailities at that spot, would you be willing to press for separate cycle lanes before the Olympics to avoid anymore casualities?

(Time ran out before answer could be given)

Q As a local resident, I just wanted to ask what the Kings Cross area was going to be like during the Olympics?

A King’s Cross will be a very exciting place during the Olympics. As you may be aware, most people will be travelling through St Pancras and using the Javelin train to get to stratford.

We will also have street dressing around the area and on some buildings, including projections.

We will also have the media hub in Bloomsbury where 20,000 members of the world’s press will be staying. We are well aware that this brings with it great opportunities and some challenges to manage the potential disruption.

You can keep up to date with plans around the Olympics on our websitehttp://www.camden.gov.uk/2012.

Q Tenants and residents in Elm Village are very concerned at the lack of information and plans for the Camley Street area. The road itself is scruffy and run down, and heavily used by the industrial estate very close to family housing.

This is such an important route from the centre of the borough to Kings Cross and the new developments (and soon the new town hall and leisure facilities)  - for residents on foot, families, cyclists and others – that it should be a priority to improve.

Elm Village Tenants and Residents Association want to work with the Council and others on this. What can you do to help us work closely with you to discuss and develop environmentally and community friendly improvements and plans for Camley Street?

A I’ll ask officers to look into the issues at Elm Village for you. I don’t have the information to hand at the moment.

Q What priority does the Council give to private tenants (who are now the largest group of tenants in Camden) and do you think the Council should continue to fund the Camden Federation of Private Tenants ?

A We give private tenants top priority and we will continue to fund the Camden Federation of Private Tenants.  One of the difficulties that private tenants face is the issue of rogue landlords and this is just one of the issues we are trying to tackle.

Q 1.The Regent’s Canal is 200 years old this year – how is Camden going to celebrate its very own iconic waterway?

2.The Regent’s Canal is only 1.5 metres wide in some places and at peak times can have over 800 users (including 500 cyclists) passing through in an hour. Pedestrians have priority on the towpath and the canal is enjoyed for its heritage and tranquillity. British Waterways runs the Two Tings campaign to encourage safe and friendly towpath use. What is Camden doing to provide safer and more attractive routes for cyclists commuting East/West?

3.In 2010 Camden Council commissioned a Green CRISP report for a Regent’s Canal Alternative Route between Regent’s Park and York Way. How many of these recommendations have been implemented so far or are committed in your future plans?

A I will ask officers to look into your questions about the 200 year celebration for Regent’s Canal and implementation of recommendations from the report. I walk through Regent’s Canal quite a lot with my family (and have done for years) and think it is one of the finest places in Camden. I even used to holiday on the barges when I was a child! As Mayor of Camden I held many fundraising events on one of the barges which I think was called My Fair Lady.

Cllr Ali ended the chat, signing off with,  “I have to go to another engagement now.  Thank you to everyone who took part – it’s the first time I have tried this and it was very enlightening and enjoyable.  There have been a few questions where I have asked Matthew to follow up and get back to you.  It was really good to see the diverse range of questions and the mix of people asking; this is definitely something we’d look into doing again in the future.  Thank you”

The group have produced a potted history of the project, available for download as a Powerpoint presentation, and an online slideshow detailing how the design has been developed over the past five years. Feedback forms asking for your views can be downloaded in a Word or in a pdf version. Click here for details of the presentation, slideshow and feedback forms.

Please get your comments to KCCP by Friday 3 February.