Even well meaning bodies like TFL (Transport for London) have cookie warnings that impede the actual access of the website.

Need to look up a bus time? Full screen cookie consent with accept buttons drawn OFF THE SCREEN.

They obviously aren't well-meaning if they're endlessly tracking everything you do

Sloppy, non-privacy-preserving "analytics" set up by some communications intern ≠ malice. They can mean well and still do a poor job. True privacy on the internet is notoriously hard.

More likely it was designed by some firm that put the cookie banner there because "that is just what you do in current year"

One of our sites that don't use any kind of tracking or cookies other then a site preference cookie, got so many complaints that we had to put up a cookie banner that simply says "we do not use any tracking cookies"...

Yes and my "peanut allergy friendly" cookies say "may contain peanuts" because that's just what you do