TfL Ref: 1539-2021

Thank you for your request received by us on 3, 6 and 12 November 2020 asking for information about guidance issued by Transport for London (TfL) regarding High Street Kensington’s cycle lanes on behalf of the __________ Association.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You initially asked for:
all TFL documentation, including without limitation officer notes taken and memos as well as letters sent to and exchanged with RBKC and the government and other consultees, regarding the temporary cycle lane implemented on Kensington High Street under the direction of TFL
We would expect to see documentation guiding RBKC's implementation from TFL starting before the implementation this past summer and ongoing letters and emails since then.
When seeking clarification given the wide ranging nature of your request, the following was asked for:
RBKC has advised local residents that TFL imposed upon them the creation of a cycling lane.

While we do not have an exact date of your communication, we expect that these may have been via letter or email from TFL to RBKC instructing them to install a cycling lane this year.

We are thus seeking letters sent by TFL to RBKC between March 2020 and today, providing instruction or guidance to install the cycling lane.

The information is specific in that it is regarding one specific temporary cycle lane on one street, Kensington High Street, and time period is specific as well, as letters should be from March 2020 to today

Please explain what else you need.

Please see attached a letter dated 3 August 2020 from TfL’s Managing Director for Surface Transport, Gareth Powell, addressed to Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Barry Quirk. Please note that this correspondence is a letter of guidance, rather than instruction from TfL to this local authority.

In accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection Legislation, some personal information in the attached letter has been withheld, as required by regulation 13 of the EIR. 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 of regulation 13 which would make the processing ‘fair’.

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 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 as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London