In 2020, pursuant to its "Active Travel Plan" and the prospect of funding from the Government's Emergency Active Travel Fund, which was intended to assist local authorities in promoting walking and cycling during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the defendant local authority installed temporary cycle lanes on a major thoroughfare. However, a petition calling for the end of the cycle lanes attracted over 3,000 signatures, and objections were also made by local businesses and the emergency services, and seven weeks after installing the cycle lanes the defendant removed them. But, following representations from the claimants and other groups, the defendant decided to revisit its decision, and, although the defendant stated that it did not consider itself to be under a duty to consult, and was not carrying out a formal consultation, it considered 3,134 emails it had received and other correspondence regarding temporary cycle lanes. Detailed submissions were also received from Transport for London, which argued that there was "an exceptionally strong case for safer cycling facilities" on the particular street. A report was prepared for the defendant's leadership team, to which the claimants responded, and the decision was taken not to install temporary cycle lanes on the thoroughfare, but to develop plans to commission research into post-Covid transport patterns.
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