North Woolwich street improvements planned

15/12/2019 0 Comments

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

Northern portal emerges alongside Silvertown Way

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.

Three tier lorry park planned beside road

A segregated cycle lane already exists in places but no bus lanes despite a large amount of land to play with.

Current layout beside West Silvertown station. Much space

That doesn’t appear to change in certain area with buses having to use general traffic lanes.

Courtesy Google. Beside Pontoon Dock station. Area on left to see 3,000+ homes

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.

Options by West Silvertown DLR station lack bus lanes

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.

Newly approved flats at Deanston seen from West Silvertown DLR station.

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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