Developers in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are likely to foot the bill for the borough’s £400,000 contribution to Boris Johnson’s flagship cycle hire scheme.
The borough is one of five being asked by Transport for London to help fund the loss-making scheme which is projected to cost £225m by 2015/16.
So far TfL’s highly publicised sponsorship agreement with Barclays Bank has brought in just £13.43m of the maximum £50m promised by 2018.
Kensington and Chelsea’s contribution means the boroughs, whose contributions receive far less publicity and acknowledgement from TfL, will have collectively paid £6.5m towards the scheme.
Tower Hamlets agreed to pay £2m the eastern expansion but this sum was later “reduced by £100,000 due to fewer stations being constructed than were initially agreed following planning and operational constrictions at proposed locations.”
TfL has also secured contributions of £2m each from Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth councils and £200,000 from Lambeth towards the scheme’s expansion to the south west.
Last year MayorWatch revealed that officers and councillors in Wandsworth were told expansion into their borough was “conditional on the Council making a financial contribution of £2 million.”
Wandsworth is meeting some of its contribution by levying a surcharge, known as a Section 106 agreement, on developments in the borough.
Kensington and Chelsea say it also expects its contribution, which is due to be paid in 2015/16, to be financed by “drawing on S106 monies from the Lots Road Power Station Development”.
Despite the sums being paid by the boroughs, TfL’s website advertising the south west London expansion makes no mention of their financial contribution to the scheme.