Follow on from FOI -2116-1718. Thank you for your response. I would be grateful if you would please send me details of the criteria by which it can be validly decided that a situation is urgent, justifying there being no discussion, correspondence, or permission from TfL in advance, and why those criteria were satisfied in this case.

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TfL Ref: 0193-1819

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 23 April 2018, asking for information about the closure of Highbury Place at the corner of Holloway Road.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.

At the commencement of the project TfL held discussions with Islington Council to agree the traffic orders required to be put into place for the works to be undertaken. This included a traffic order for Highbury Place which prohibited the use of any vehicular traffic, including cyclists (a copy of this order is attached). TfL’s aim throughout this project has always been to try and reduce the disruption to all road users in the area, and we kept access to Highbury Place open to cyclists for as long as possible. We also amended our traffic management scheme to include the cycle right hand turn, from Holloway Road into Highbury Place, for as long as practicably possible during the construction works.

During the time in question, more invasive construction work was being undertaken in and around Highbury Place, which meant that keeping this cycle facility open became too dangerous, as a number of near misses between cyclists and pedestrians were witnessed by our on-site staff. The decision was therefore taken to close Highbury Place to cyclists with immediate effect and an alternative route provided. These types of decisions are made on a case by case basis with the safety of all road users in mind.

As per your request, there is no specific criteria used to assess this type of risk, however, TFL take the safety of the public around its worksites very seriously and if we believe that a situation is unsafe we will act immediately to rectify it, which we did in this instance.

As we previously noted, no meetings were held, nor minutes taken due to the urgency of the situation. The decision was then communicated to the public retrospectively by our travel ambassadors in the area, making cyclists aware of the issue and the alternative cycle route.

The road was reopened on Monday 30 April 2018 to all road users.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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