[1] Thoughts from an outsider re RBKC and Kensington High St.

So I did (undertook? Conducted? I’m so novice I don’t even know what the correct verb is) my first ever bit of activism today. I went and cycled up and down a road several times with a bit of tinsel on my bike.

[2] Ok, so its not exactly the same as chaining myself just in underwear to a military air base, but it was my first time, and it still counts. Why? Because I felt it was the right thing to do to support a cause I care about, and perhaps less altruistically

[3] I use that road quite frequently so the provision on it directly affects me.

It was fantastic to see the sheer quantity of people out today who like me are appalled by RBKCs decision. I would say I hope they see the actions of common folk today and reconsider, however

[4] if they were capable of introspection and empathy we wouldn’t be facing this to begin with.

Talking to other people there was a lot of anger and surprise at the council’s decision. And that in itself shows part of the problem. We expected the council to act in good faith.

[5] To not be duplicitous and scheming. But why did we? RBKC has never shown a face that is anything other than actively hostile. By expecting them to act as reasonable people we were complacent.

I hope we made a difference today, and over the past week. Local educational

[6] establishments, businesses, NHS trusts, among many others have been vocal in their support for the cycle lanes. In particular @betterstreets4kc have been tireless on Twitter recently. But my optimism is low, RBKC are just too backwards and there’s a chance that even with

[7] the best organised campaign the results would have been the same.

Unfortunately by losing a scheme as major and prominent as this one, it will be used by the ABD, and other fossils of their ilk to pressure every other active travel program in planning or existence, not

[8] just in London, but across the UK. By losing we embolden them and will lead to other losses without more successful campaigning.

There will be other battlegrounds. The most obvious one I’m aware of at the moment being Chiswick High St. I think the biggest difference we

[9] can make is to be prepared for councils to be weak, to expect them to fold and not honour their word. And therefore to campaign hard from the second it opens, to be on the front foot and not the back. Being careful not to fall for tricks like waiting for a survey to go

[10] out in six months time, as the cycle lane may not be there in six months. We have to be as vocal, if not more vocal than the opposition. If KHS has taught me anything, if we don’t shout about it, we can lose it overnight.

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