Council calls on TfL to respect right of way

28 June 2012

Transport for London (TfL) intends to press on with plans to restrict a public right of way across the Kensington Olympia footbridge, despite protests from local residents.

To reduce ticketless travel TfL says it needs to install gates which would restrict access to the bridge which also serves as an important shortcut across the tracks between Russell Road and Olympia Way.

TfL has promised that a residents' pass scheme will preserve the shortcut for local people, however access for the wider public will be lost under the plans.

The local authorities either side of the tracks - Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea - having received evidence from large numbers of residents, have written to TfL and Network Rail setting out their opinion that this popular pedestrian shortcut should be considered a right of way which must not be restricted in any way.

Councillor Nick Paget-Brown, Deputy Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said: "I'm afraid that TfL's offer to issue a pass that would allow residents to continue to use the footbridge misses the point that, in our opinion, there is strong evidence that indicates there is already an established right of way over the bridge."