Thames Water’s response to our letter (received 27/5/25)

Thank you for your email.

As I’m sure you understand I am unable to commit directly to any funding proposals without receiving internal governance sign-offs. I will raise yours (and the Councillors concerns from last week) within Thames Water. Where possible we have avoided full closures, exemplified by our ongoing works at Stratford High Street, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to balance access to the Greenway against planning safely the infrastructure improvements needed to upgrade the Victorian sewers. These are once in a generation projects – once complete the Greenway will re-open and provide a fantastic community benefit as it has done for many years previously.

With regard to the diversions themselves please advise if you feel there are any alternative routes to those presented last week? We have been working closely with LB Newham for some time and if there is a safer way to implement these closures we would welcome those ideas. To date Thames Water have funded improvements on the existing diversion route including traffic calming measures on Abbey Road, widening of the ramp at Manor Road and improvements in lighting around Manor Road bridge. 

As for the notice periods provided we are giving as much time as possible but we cannot slip our timescales as ultimately these are driven by the assets themselves; their condition and the work we need to do to repair and replace them.

Happy to meet to discuss any follow up questions,

Kind regards

GREENWAY CLOSURES – how you can help our campaign for safe diversion routes for walking and cycling

Many thanks to those who have already offered to speak to camera for our video. In order to make the maximum impact, we need to tell the human story of the Greenway closures – the individuals who are and will be affected. We would like to involve as many people as possible, and to reflect the diversity of the pedestrian and cycling users of the Greenway. Are you/your family/your friends affected by this closure? Do you work in the healthcare sector? Do you work with community groups? Do you cycle for a living? Would you be willing to talk to camera for 20-30 seconds? Do you know anyone affected who you could ask to tell us their story? If so please contact us at newham@lcc.org.uk and we will be in touch – we hope to complete the video this month (June).

If you would prefer to write about your experience,  we are using a form to collect individual experiences of the impact of the Newham Greenway closures. These will be displayed on this website on a map of Newham, linking individuals to Council wards. Please complete the form, keeping in mind that this information will be displayed on a publicly available webpage, so please choose your name and location such that your identity remains secure. Your email will only be used to send you a copy of your response; it will not be displayed.

Thanks,

Jonathan and Karen.