Our demands
- Thames Water must not close any more of the Greenway until there’s a safe alternative for cycling. No dismounting, no riding in heavy traffic.
- Thames Water must contribute financially to these safe diversions. Signs and speed cushions aren’t enough
- Thames Water must pay to reinstate the Greenway to the highest quality when their works are done
It has been
388 days
since Thames Water closed the Greenway
Thames Water have closed an important part of Newham’s only safe north-south cycle route since September 2024, when they closed it 1 week into the school year.
This will now continue until 2028. This is unacceptable.
To complain to Thames Water:
- Email customer.feedback@thameswater.co.uk
- Call 0800 316 9800
- Quote reference BB00472913 and tell them how the Greenway closure has impacted you
The closure of the Greenway negatively affects:
- Children and families cycling to school, or to the Olympic Park
- Students cycling to uni or to NewVIC
- NHS workers cycling to Newham Hospital, GP surgeries, CAMHS, and making patient outcalls—and patients travelling to appointments
- Mental health and cardiac rehab groups that used the Greenway to access the Olympic Park
- Delivery riders who have to cycle for their job
- People who rely on cycling and walking because they don’t have or can’t afford a car
The closure will be extended even further from October 2025, cutting off even more walking and cycling journeys. This means you’ll have to go via New Plaistow Road or Manor Road instead. This is even more dangerous.
The Impact
More people have contacted us about the Greenway closure than any other issue in Newham Cyclists’ history. Newham residents are upset, angry, and disappointed that Thames Water have removed their safe routes to school, to work, and to hospital. This has affected people financially, in terms of their health, and in terms of their mobility and independence.
“I cannot cycle my son to the Olympic Park and we have to take the bus. The bus is much slower than cycling, and means I am less independent”
—Plaistow resident
“It has meant that some days I now have to travel to work by train which costs me more money”
—E20 resident
“In August 2025 our family moved out of Newham. [The Greenway closure] has been a major factor in our decision to relocate”
—Former Plaistow resident
“3 years in a life of a 5 years old is very long and we wouldn’t want our kids to keep missing out.”
—Plaistow resident
“I’ve completely stopped cycling since the Greenway closure and now have to pay for the tube and bus more often”
—Plaistow resident
“Planning on ditching my bicycle and buying a car instead as it feel it will be too dangerous”
—Plaistow resident
The Diversions: Death Traps
Thames Water’s web page lists the following alternative routes for people who would’ve used the Greenway:
- “Route 1”, via New Plaistow Road and West Ham Lane. There is no protected cycling infrastructure on this corridor. The narrow lanes put those cycling into the door zone of parked cars. This is a major road heavily trafficked by buses, lorries, and vehicles heading for the A13.
- “Route 2”, via Abbey Road and Manor Road. There is no protected cycling infrastructure. People cycling have to share with 9,000 vehicles per day on Abbey Road, many of which speed and overtake when it is unsafe. The speed cushions and “DO NOT OVERTAKE CYCLISTS” signs are not effective. People then have to make a difficult right turn, then join Manor Road, which is narrow, fast, and also has no protected infrastructure. Close passes are a regular occurrence. Pedestrians have to put up with narrow pavements in poor condition. The extended diversion also requires using Gainsborough Road and Grange Road, and traversing the 5th most dangerous junction for cycling in all of Newham—with 2 serious crashes between 2019 and 2023.
Thames Water claims all these diversion routes are suitable for pedestrians and cyclists. This is untrue.
At least 4 people have told us they’ve been injured while cycling on the current Abbey Road diversion alone. We think many more people will be hurt, and some more seriously, when cyclists are sent into the busy carriageway on New Plaistow Road, or via the dangerous Grange Road junction.
The Solution
There must be at least one family-safe, 24/7 north/south cycle route in Newham on the public highway. But this requires Newham Council, under-staffed and in the middle of a financial crisis, to scrape together funding. It will also require political support from the current councillors and Mayor, and those seeking to replace them in May’s local elections.
There are longer-term plans to build a protected cycleway on the New Plaistow Road—West Ham Lane alignment, initially with temporary materials. This is a good scheme which we support. But even with these plans being accelerated, we understand that the scheme will not even be consulted on for some months. Spades won’t be in the ground until next year.
In August we asked Thames Water to delay their next phase of works until there was a safe diversion. They refused. We feel this shows that Thames Water is not interested in public safety—instead that they’d sooner someone was hurt on the public road, where it’s the Council’s fault, rather than on their private land where they might be held liable.
The 3,000+ cyclists per day who relied on the Greenway have been forced to choose between danger and expensive alternative transport for over a year. This shows no sign of ending soon.
What we think needs to happen
Thames Water MUST NOT close the Manor Road to Upper Road section of the Greenway until there is a safe alternative. This means something that children and families can use with no dismounting and no mixing with heavy traffic. If this means the existing closure goes on for longer, or it’s operationally inconvenient or expensive to de-mobilise and then re-mobilise staff—tough. Public safety must come first.first
Newham Council needs to build a safe alternative route, fast. This means protected cycleways on the West Ham Lane-Plaistow Road corridor, as fast as possible, using temporary materials to begin with. This will also help to achieve Newham’s long term goals for a complete cycle network across the borough. This needs to be built and usable by next spring.
Thames Water must contribute to the cost of building a safe diversion. This is partly because they gave an unacceptably short notice period (less than 3 months) for the Council to prepare for the first stage of the closure; and partly because they “moved the goalposts” by extending the closure with similarly short notice (only 4 months), rendering work on the initial diversion wasted effort.
Separately, Newham must also look at other measures to urgently reduce harm on the existing diversions—for instance, by reviving the abandoned plans to close Abbey Road to traffic (except post vans and emergency vehicles.)
Transport for London must do everything in their power to expedite the safe alternative route. The Greenway is TfL Cycleway 22—they should take ownership of making sure there’s an alternative that works for all users, fast, and that its delivery doesn’t get delayed by quibble about traffic modelling and junction capacity.
When they are eventually finished, Thames Water must pay for the closed section of the Greenway to be reinstated to the highest quality. This project should be led and designed by the Council, in line with their other recent schemes (for instance the recently rebuilt Beckton Corridor.)
How you can share your story
Are you/your family/your friends affected by the Greenway closure? Do you work in the healthcare sector? Do you work with community groups? Do you cycle for a living? Have you had a close shave, or been hurt on the Greenway diversion? 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.
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 the “map of pain” which links responses 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.
Our demands
- Thames Water must not close any more of the Greenway until there’s a safe alternative for cycling. No dismounting, no riding in heavy traffic.
- Thames Water should contribute financially to these safe diversions. Signs and speed cushions aren’t enough
- Thames Water must pay to reinstate the Greenway to the highest quality when their works are done
To complain to Thames Water:
- Email customer.feedback@thameswater.co.uk
- Call 0800 316 9800
- Quote reference BB00472913 and tell them how the Greenway closure has impacted you
Notes to Editors
Newham Cyclists is part of the London Cycling Campaign, a registered charity. We are local volunteers fighting to make cycling safe and fun for everyone.
Media enquiries should go to newham@lcc.org.uk, @NewhamCyclists on Instagram, or @newhamcyclists.uk on Bluesky. Your contacts are Jonathan Rothwell and Dr Karen Flanagan.
Please remember we are a volunteer group, so will answer your queries amongst our work and personal commitments.