On your bike! Boris hire station blocked - no go for Little Venice canal basin
Published: 02 July 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
RESIDENTS in Little Venice are celebrating victory in their battle to stop a cycle hire station being placed in a Westminster beauty spot.
Planning chiefs this week agreed to review plans to place one of the Mayor of London’s docking points by Little Venice basin in Warwick Crescent, following a bungled consultation exercise which missed out dozens of residents nearby.
The committee were persuaded the station would spoil views of the canal basin as well as encouraging cyclists to break the law by riding on the pavements.
The council will now talk to Transport for London about finding a more appropriate location.
Adam Hug, councillor for the Westbourne ward, said: “I am delighted the planning committee has listened to the views of local people and understood that putting the docking station here could cause havoc for motorists and pedestrians with bikes being encouraged to go the wrong way down a one-way street.”
Rosemarie MacQueen, Westminster City Council’s strategic director for built environment, said: “The application will be considered again by a reconvened planning committee in due course.”