I request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of the closure of The Cut in the London Borough of Lambeth with agreement with the London Borough of Southwark, namely The Cut, Westminster Bridge Road to Borough High Street corridor: Copies of Road Safety Audits include the number of accidents by mode Copies of reports of Network, Junction and Traffic Modelling All correspondence with the Emergency Services about the road closure Public Sector Equalities Impact Assessment Any consultation with disability groups in respect of the closure of The Cut and this new corridor and mitigation for disabled passengers travelling by licensed taxi (hackney carriage) or personal vehicle who are blue badge permit holders. Any associated emails, correspondence or meeting notes ascertaining to discussions as to what consideration was given to the inclusion and/or exclusion of publicly hired taxis (hackney carriages) from travelling through the closure. I look forward to your reply and receiving the documents within the required deadline.

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Our ref: FOI-1387-2021/GH

Thank you for your email received on 20 October 2020 asking for information about the closure of The Cut.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require. You asked:

I request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of the closure of The Cut in the London Borough of Lambeth with agreement with the London Borough of Southwark, namely The Cut, Westminster Bridge Road to Borough High Street corridor:

Copies of Road Safety Audits include the number of accidents by mode

Please find attached the Road Safety Audit. We did not consider the number of accidents by mode, as the scheme has been introduced to align with the Covid-10 recovery to reduce traffic dominance in the area and provide a safe walking and cycling environment but also permit the creation of additional footway space outside the core area of restaurants on The Cut to enable outside seating.

Please note that in accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed from the attached documents, as required by EIR Regulation 13. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.

Copies of reports of Network, Junction and Traffic Modelling

No specific modelling for this scheme was undertaken. In January 2020 a large water main burst at the junction of The Cut and Blackfriars Road which made The Cut impassable as a through-route until The Cut re-opened on 12 July 2020. This live experience of restrictions on The Cut, which included two months when traffic was at pre-COVID “normal” levels, demonstrated that the local area road network functioned effectively and that no streets were excessively impacted by traffic reassigning away from The Cut. As part of the wider Central London Streetspace programme planning, Strategic Highway Traffic Assignment modelling was completed during August and September to test the combined impacts of proposed temporary schemes including The Cut. The purpose of this work was to better understand which routes traffic would take if new restrictions were implemented. This assessment indicated that there were no notable impacts from implementing the restrictions on The Cut and that surrounding roads would not be unduly impacted; which aligned to our understanding of the live situation which had resulted from the burst water main. An image showing flow-differences on the road network surrounding The Cut is included, which is extracted from this study. This model is baselined to 2016 traffic flows and does not take account of current lower traffic levels in Central London resulting from pandemic restrictions.

All correspondence with the Emergency Services about the road closure

The temporary traffic order was submitted by the London Borough of Lambeth. LB Lambeth have led on discussions with all statutory consultees, including the emergency services and a request will need to be made to them for this information. Out of further courtesy, TfL sent notice of the scheme to LAS’s Patient Experience Department who shared it on with relevant departments (Attached).

Public Sector Equalities Impact Assessment

All TfL Streetspace schemes have undertaken an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA), please see attached document relating to The Cut. LB Lambeth have also completed their own EQIA for The Cut..

Any consultation with disability groups in respect of the closure of The Cut and this new corridor and mitigation for disabled passengers travelling by licensed taxi (hackney carriage) or personal vehicle who are blue badge permit holders.

For The Cut Streetspace scheme, TfL led on the construction communication with local businesses and residents.

All other wider engagement and consultation has been led by the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. Further details around what consultation and engagement has taken place and what may be planned in the future needs to be directed to both boroughs.

Any associated emails, correspondence or meeting notes ascertaining to discussions as to what consideration was given to the inclusion and/or exclusion of publicly hired taxis (hackney carriages) from travelling through the closure.

Access for publicly hired taxis (hackney carriages) to drive through the closure on The Cut formed part of the discussions at TfL’s Road Space Performance Group (RSPRG) session in advance of the scheme being approved for implementation. Prior to this meeting taxis were included as part of the wider discussions regarding restricting motor vehicles on the corridor in order to achieve one of the key benefits  of the LSP programme, which is to support an increase in walking and cycling and support a sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The only communication we have had with the taxi trade relates to the stakeholder engagement email we sent out prior to the scheme going live.

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

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

Attachments

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