North Woolwich street improvements planned
Plans are afoot to alter North Woolwich Road in Newham as thousands of homes are built in the area and other substantial changes look to radically change the area.
The consultation, which ends tomorrow, is also looking at Silvertown Way. Some of the aims are:
- Make it easier, safer and more convenient for people to walk, cycle and use public transport
- Improve air quality and reduce pollution levels
- Reduce the dominance of traffic
It seems a little odd to talk of these priorities given that these streets will see a substantial increase in traffic when Silvertown Tunnel emerges beside Silvertown Way, with a large three-storey lorry park planned nearby alongside North Woolwich Road.
A segregated cycle lane already exists in places but no bus lanes despite a large amount of land to play with.
That doesn’t appear to change in certain area with buses having to use general traffic lanes.
With TfL struggling with falling bus passengers and a large increase in traffic coming, it seems an odd decision to consign buses to general traffic lanes and probable traffic jams. That will not get anyone out of their cars.
London City Airport is also seeing sizeable expansion and see an increase in passengers from 4.5 million annually to 6.5 million in 2022. That’s more drop-offs and motor traffic alongside Silvertown Tunnel traffic and new homes.
Housing
One trigger for the work is the 3,200 homes at Royal Wharf which should complete and become occupied in the next 18 months. Work is already underway on 800 homes next door at Deanston Wharf.
Just north of Royal Wharf are phase 1 plans at Millennium Mills which were approved last week. I covered that project here. Eventually over 3,000 homes will be built.
To the east over 300 homes are currently rising at Pontoon Reach.
Much like the Low Emission neighbourhood scheme in Greenwich it’s a welcome project in isolation but completely overwhelmed by the Silvertown Tunnel and forecasted traffic increase. And some glaring oversights such as no new bus lanes. As such, is it all just a sop that will achieve little?
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