Stratford – Newham Cyclists

News from the Streets – May 2026

Welcome to News from the Streets, where we review the many cycling infrastructure schemes being built in Newham. Since our last instalment in February, there has been good progress on a variety of projects to celebrate. We can only hope that, with a change of Mayor and a significant shift in the political landscape of Newham after the elections, this momentum is carried forward in the coming months and years to turn our borough into the cycling powerhouse it deserves to be.

Romford Road

Moving west to east:

Sections B South (Radlett Close to Tavistock Road) and D South (Green Street to Woodgrange junction) have received their blue surfacing at crossovers:

There is good progress on Junction 3 (Richmond Road/Green Street), which will lead directly into Section D. There’s even now an information board on the hoardings telling you what the finished scheme will look like!

Through metal fencing, workers sweep dust from the top of a new traffic island separating a one way cycle track from traffic. — Green Street junction. Photo: Jonathan Rothwell

Across the street, fencing surrounds a cycle track under construction. A poster board attached to the fencing shows a map of the scheme and the design for Green Street junction, complete with a visualisation. — Green Street junction. Photo: Jonathan Rothwell

Green Street J3 Download

Kerblines for Section F (Balmoral Road to Station Road via Woodgrange Park station) continues to make progress steadily eastwards on the north side only at this stage.

Section H (Rabbits Road to Little Ilford Lane) is now lined and open for use in both directions, and has also received its blue surfacing at side roads. We are pleased to see this significant and challenging section opened, including Romford Road’s first inline ‘sparrow’ type crossing. This offers benefits for all users:

When you are crossing as a pedestrian, you deal with cyclists and drivers separately, making the task of crossing the street easier to manage.
If you’re cycling, you don’t need to stop when the general traffic light is red—you just give way to people using or waiting for the zebra crossing as normal.
Shorter crossing distance for pedestrians means the pedestrian traffic light phase can be shorter, meaning less red time for buses and cars.

There will be an opening event for this new section on 19th May featuring a Dr Bike mechanic. Come down and celebrate!

A one-way cycle track on a street with rain gardens and a vehicle crossover on the left (through which the cycleway is marked with blue paint), and a bus lane on the right. — Romford Road section H. Photos: Martin Hind

The one-way cycle track with a signalised crossing of a carriageway leading off to the right, with a short 2-way stub of cycle track in the foreground. The signalised crossing is a parallel signalised pedestrian and cycle crossing, accessible for pedestrians from a median using a zebra crossing of the cycle track. The zebra crossing is marked with red tactile in an L shape towards the back of the footway. — Romford Road section H. Photos: Martin Hind

Section I (Little Ilford Lane to Lugg Approach) is still in progress, and as we understand is being bundled with the works for Junction 7 (Little Ilford Lane junction.) This will include 2 new parallel crossings and, most excitingly, a protected T-junction at Little Ilford Lane. When complete, these will mean a big chunk of the scheme is effectively complete from Rabbits Road all the way to Lugg Approach.

J7 Illustrative Plans Download

Section I Illustrative plans Download

Looking ahead, we hope that work will also be able to start in the coming months on Woodgrange Junction (junction 2, again connecting to Section D) and that Rabbits Road junction (junction 7) can see get in the ground this year.

Finally, we are aware of the topic of vehicles being parked in the cycle track, both for loading (which they shouldn’t be doing) and antisocially. While things are improving, it’s still not uncommon to see people loading or even with their cars fully parked in the cycle track. Please report these issues to the Romford Road team using the email address STRomfordRoad@newham.gov.uk, it helps make the case for measures such as bollards and block boulders to keep the cycleways and footways clear.

Water Lane parallel crossing

Work has now moved to the Manbey Grove side of the crossing. The footway rebuild on the eastern side is complete, with only the cycle track due to receive its final surfacing (which we assume will happen at the same time as the new crossing is raised.)

We particularly like the multi-coloured block paving—a simple way to jazz up the built environment. This scheme will make a big difference to the Maryland Cycleway link.

Curved cycle path through a pavement with a crossing marked with yellow rectangular tactiles. The pavement is in jazzy brown, gold and ochre-coloured block paving. — Water Lane crossing as of 25 April. Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Plastic fencing surrounding a side road as it is reconstructed. — Water Lane crossing as of 25 April. Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Water Lane plan Download

Leyton Road / Cycle Future Route 7

The cycle track is still waiting for its top surface, but the kerb lines are now extant as far as the future Decapod Street/Henniker Road crossing, the realigned Cycleway 16 route. The lamp post has also been removed from the cycleway. We hope that there will be further progress on this route in the coming months—it would be nice for our next ride with Colegrave School to use the new protected cycleway all the way!

Unfinished two-way cycle track with a connection to a side street. Crossing of connection uses buff rectangular tactiles. — The future route of Cycleway 16 – getting closer. Photo: Jonathan Rothwell

Westfield Avenue

International Way and Olympic Park Avenue junctions are now both open for use. At time of writing, the Olympic Park Avenue cycleway received its markings in the last 72 hours—and the freshly-resurfaced bridge span is very smooth and a joy to cycle on (with the exception of short strips by the bridge’s expansion joints.) Work is still ongoing around the entrance to the construction site opposite Olympic Park Avenue—so be careful for the time being.

Work is now beginning in earnest on the new expanded footway on the last section to the Marshgate Lane junction—with a new footway on the eastern side of Westfield Avenue for the very first time.

The parallel crossing connecting to Anthems Way is also complete. There is still some outdated signage (including a battered and now incorrect ‘no cycling’ sign) to be removed.

Two 2-way cycle tracks connecting at right angles, with one continuing ahead over a bridge. — Connection to Olympic Park Avenue from Westfield Avenue

Two-way cycle track signalised crossing of a road with an adjacent signalised pedestrian crossing, and a zebra crossing of the cycle track. — Connection to Olympic Park Avenue from Westfield Avenue

Elsewhere in the Olympic Park

The main structure of the expanded Greenway ramp to Marshgate Lane is now visible, although there is still clearly a way to go until it gets its tarmac surfacing and the surrounding landscaping is complete. The end date of “Spring 2026” (already extended from Autumn 2025) seems very optimistic. Hint: if you’re in the area, be prepared to give visitors in sparkly garb directions to the ABBA Arena.

The (somewhat stop-start) cycle track on Pool Street is largely complete, and is being connected to the extended Carpenters Road cycleway at one end, and Montfichet Road’s legacy cycle track on the other end.

Two-way cycle track separated from road by rain garden closed with "CYCLE LANE CLOSED" fencing. — Pool Street junction with Montfichet Road. Photos: Bluesky user MacLondon

Footway closed and being excavated behind fencing. — Pool Street junction with Montfichet Road. Photos: Bluesky user MacLondon

Beckton Corridor

The section of Jake Russell Walk (National Cycle Network 13) between Royal Albert Way bridge and Beckton Park has been resurfaced, to the same standard as the rest of the Beckton Corridor—the awful anti-cycling barriers are gone, and the surface is smooth asphalt. Some finishing work is still being done to the footway at the crossing to Beckton Park, which we feel should really be a parallel pedestrian and cycle crossing.

Two-way cycle track in black asphalt on the right, buff-coloured asphalt footway on the left, with tramline tactile marking, in a tree-lined corridor. — Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Footway with setts in an arc pattern being reconstructed behind plastic fencing. — Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Royal Docks Corridor—City Hall area

The extended section of the Royal Docks scheme along Western Gateway to the bike bus stop continues. The rain gardens for the medians are now almost fully planted, and the north-side cycle track connecting to the bike bus is awaiting its top surfacing and its connection to the existing cycle track on Tidal Basin Roundabout. The footway is in the process of being reconstructed. The cycle track on the City Hall/Kamal Chunchie Way/cable car side is still to be constructed.

Two-way cycle track awaiting its top surface with rain gardens on the right hand side. — Western Gateway, north side off Tidal Basin Roundabout and south side by City Hall. Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Rain gardens in a median with a signboard showing a visualisation of the final scheme. The future cycle track retains the carriageway surfacing for now. — Western Gateway, north side off Tidal Basin Roundabout and south side by City Hall. Photos: Jonathan Rothwell

Keeping track of the many ongoing projects in Newham is a lot of work for our volunteers. If you live or work near one of these sites, we’d really appreciate it if you would volunteer to tell us when things make progress. Email newham@lcc.org.uk or join our discussion group if you can help us, or want to get involved in our campaigning.

News from the Streets — February 2026

Welcome to News from the Streets, where we discuss the many cycling infrastructure schemes with spades in the ground in Newham. Since our previous instalment in late 2024 there is a lot to report.

Romford Road

Sections B and D westbound are largely complete and have been open since just before Christmas. Greenery is still to arrive in some of the rain gardens. We are also still waiting for the blue surfacing at the crossovers on these sections, which can only be done after a period of dry weather. The cycle tracks are already being well used and work well at rush hour—and traffic flows well, even bounded on both sides by the Earlham LTN and the newly-permanent West Ham Park LTN. So this is something great to celebrate!

Sections H is largely complete, but will not be opened until the junctions receive their blue surfacing. We also believe that section I is being held up by a serious flooding issue that Thames Water are taking a long time to resolve. We hope that once they are formally opened, the serious issues with people parking their cars on the cycle track outside the shops can be resolved.

Work on Green Street/Richmond Road junction is underway. The “classic” road closure that was at the roundabout with Windsor Road has now been relocated, and work is moving to the area of the junction itself. This will provide a new, protected cycleway for the east-west alignment, and toucan crossings to permit cycling movements to Green Street, along with rain gardens and resurfacing.

Green Street J3 Download

Work has also begun on Section F, with kerb lines starting to appear for the new cycle track eastbound from Balmoral/Katharine Road junction.

Finally, we understand that once work completes on Green Street junction—hopefully in summer—work should begin on Woodgrange junction, assuming no further delays in traffic modelling. We certainly hope that Thames Water’s existing works at this junction do not overrun or cause further issues.

Water Lane crossing

Work has, at long last, begun on the priority pedestrian and cycle crossing of Water Lane on the Stratford-Forest Gate backstreet Cycleway link, with its unusual diagonal design. This will also add a zebra crossing closer to the junction with Forest Lane, which is desperately needed by users of Maryland Station. It will also introduce new mode filters at the Manbey Grove and Louise Road junctions, further strengthening the successful Manbey and Atherton LTNs. We hope that the speed humps will also finally do something to control the serious issue with traffic speed on Water Lane.

Water Lane plan Download

Westfield Avenue

The new cycle track, which was consulted on back in 2022, is now open all the way from Montfichet Road to Olympic Park Avenue, with work ongoing on the International Way and Olympic Park Avenue junctions—the latter of which has now closed off the rat-run from Westfield car parks through East Village, for conversion to a protected cycle track. Planting has started to arrive in the rain gardens. We expect that once the junctions have finished, the last section of cycle track (and new pavement) will be built to connect to Marshgate Lane junction.

The cycle track is already proving popular, and not just with people cycling—we’re glad that Stratford’s rollerbladers finally have somewhere around Westfield they can feel welcome!

Kerblines appearing behind construction fencing linking a cycle track to a road off to the side.

A very wide pavement and a wide cycle track with construction fencing still up between the cycle track and the road off to the right. Three young people rollerblade on the cycle.

Leyton Road / Cycle Future Route 7

The permanent traffic lights are finally turned on at Chobham Road/Leyton Road/Liberty Bridge Road junction, albeit with the cycle crossings currently closed as the tracks have yet to receive their top surfacing. The cycle track is starting to creep its way southwards. The current phase of works, we believe, will run as far as Windmill Lane junction, as the extension over the Angel Lane bridge to join Great Eastern Road is dependent on a development in the area.

A road with a short section of separated cycle track, closed off, with separate traffic lights for the main road and the cycle track.

A closed cycle crossing of a 2-way cycle track over Chobham Road, leading to a partly completed track over the road.

We understand design work is being sped up where possible on the southern section of CFR7, from Stratford to Plaistow, in reaction to the Greenway closure, and hope to learn more about this soon.

Royal Docks

The entirety of the Royal Docks corridor’s 5-stage initial scope is now complete, and an additional phase—funded by the original corridor coming in under budget and some extra external funding—is now underway to extend it to Seagull Lane (for Royal Victoria DLR and the Silvertown bike bus stop) and the new City Hall. This will extend the cycleway, remove the dual carriageway, and remove all the traffic lights and replace them with priority crossings. This will make life easier and more convenient for pedestrians, cyclists, and for the few drivers who use this street. Extra rain gardens will also appear which should make this somewhat windswept area much more attractive.

Map of a layout for Western Gateway and Tidal Basin Road east of Tidal Basin Roundabout, with 2-way cycle tracks on the northern and southern sides and parallel pedestrian/cycling crossings over Western Gateway. — Image: Newham Council

Good progress has been made since work started in October and the first section of new cycle track is already being used (albeit as a temporary footway while the main footway is being rebuilt.) We look forward to revisiting our City Hall to City Hall video once the works are done!

View from the air of a 2-way cycle track around a wide roundabout, ceding priority to a shared area, with construction work visible on one of the arms yonder with pink plastic fencing. — Images courtesy of Bluesky user MacLondon

Plastic fencing surrounding a wide dual carriageway with new kerbs for a median appearing. — Images courtesy of Bluesky user MacLondon

Additional projects

Progress is being made on the cycleway at Pool Street by the London Aquatics Centre, which will include a short section of separated cycle track (albeit disappearing regularly into shared areas.) We are pleased that this will considerably reduce the carriageway to a sensible width, and believe this will eventually link to a protected track on Carpenters Road (both the existing one and an extension as far as Sidings Street.)
The new ramp up to the north end of the Greenway at Marshgate Lane is still in progress. We understand that improved art and wayfinding for the underpass, which should make it much less grim, should be finished by the summer (hopefully with the new ramp.)
The West Ham Park LTN has been made permanent. We note that in the Cabinet meeting where the approval was voted through, the Mayor of Newham read out a letter from the head teacher of Park Primary School in support of the LTN. We feel that this, plus powerful messages from residents with their personal experiences of cleaner air and safer streets, helped the Cabinet and councillors to make the right decision—and will hopefully make it much harder for anyone hoping to take the LTN out in future.
The Beckton Corridor has been resurfaced, and the cycle tracks and crossings around ASDA are finished. Jake Russell Walk, which previously had an appalling tiled surface, is currently being resurfaced as well—this will connect the new Beckton Corridor and (hopefully) new cycle tracks on Woolwich Manor Way to the Royal Docks.

Statement on the fatality at Stratford High Street/Carpenters Road on Monday 13th January

View from the central island of a two-stage pedestrian crossing with guardrail, looking towards a Holiday Inn Express on the pavement where people are talking, their bicycles standing nearby. In the foreground is a yellow sign from the Metropolitan Police reading "FATAL COLLISION. DAY: MONDAY, DATE: 13th JANUARY, TIME: 13.45-14.15hrs. Telephone 07884743474."

On Monday 20th January at 6pm, we held a vigil at the site of a crash the week prior, which claimed the life of a cyclist in his 20s. Our co-ordinator, Jonathan, read the following prepared remarks. We then held a minute’s silence to commemorate the man who was killed.

We’re here tonight to mark the sad events of last Monday. Details are still scarce to us, and no doubt will become clearer in the coming weeks and months as the Police and coroner make their inquiries.

So here are the facts: On Monday, 13 January, at around 2pm, a man in his 20s was cycling here, at the junction of Carpenters Road and High Street, when he was involved in a crash with a lorry. Despite the efforts of bystanders, and the attendance of the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service, and London’s Air Ambulance, this gentleman was pronounced dead at the scene. Our deepest condolences go to his friends and family. Our thoughts are also with all those who witnessed, were involved in, and responded to, a very traumatic incident.

Right now, we have no further details about the person who died, nor the circumstances of the crash.

Fatal crashes involving lorries and people cycling are a distressingly regular occurrence. The last one in London that we know about was only 10 weeks earlier, on 2nd November last year, when a 27-year-old man was hit and killed in Putney while he was on his way to meet his friends for lunch.

Last week’s crash took place just a few feet away from here, at a junction that was, between 2019 and 2023, Newham’s fourth most dangerous for cycling. Despite being a known danger spot, Carpenters Road junction has been left largely untouched and unprotected for over a decade—just like its neighbours at Cooks Road and Warton Road. It should not take someone, or someones, losing their life for the responsible authorities to take action to remove danger from our streets—at a location that the thousands of us who navigate Stratford on a daily basis know all too well. Even one death is one too many.

Today we are here to acknowledge yet another violent and premature end to a person’s life on London’s roads—and to pay our respects to the unknown rider whose life ended here. And it is easy to forget when policymakers, journalists, and indeed campaigners like us, so readily reduce traffic fatalities to statistics, but let us remember: Every single death or serious injury in traffic is someone’s personal tragedy.

No matter who the young gentleman who died here was, no matter what he was doing, no matter where he was going: no-one deserves a sudden and violent death while simply going about their lives.

We’ll now observe a minute’s silence to reflect, and to pay our respects to the person who was killed.

May he rest in peace.

A traffic light/street lamp post with four tea lights arranged around the base, and five bunches of flowers attached to it at various heights. In the distance, another one of the "FATAL COLLISION" signs appealing for information is visible.

Greenway horror story continues—unacceptable danger for cyclists into 2025!

Newham Council decided not to remove car traffic from Abbey Road, despite this being the formal diversion for the borough’s only safe north-south cycle route. This is despite horrendous near misses on a daily basis—danger which will affect people turning to their cycles during next week’s Tube strike. This is unacceptable. We demand action before someone is hurt or killed.

A man cycles on a narrow bridge at night with a terrifying queue of cars following him.

Halloween may have been yesterday, but the Greenway nightmare is far from over. We have been informed by Newham Council that they will not be proceeding with the traffic order to remove traffic from Abbey Road—a narrow, weak bridge which isn’t on the Strategic Road Network and was never designed to carry the volume of traffic it does—after objections from the Police.

This is a terrible outcome which leaves people who rely on walking and cycling in severe danger. Near misses are extremely common. It is inevitable that at some point, one of those “near misses” won’t be a miss any more.

Keeping Abbey Road open to traffic exposes the most vulnerable road users using the cheapest modes of transport to unacceptable danger, including during next week’s Tube strikes. This failure of leadership from the Council undermines the superb work they’re doing elsewhere.

It is a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed on or around Abbey Road while using the Greenway diversion. We have expressed this concern repeatedly over the past months.

What now?

Short term changes

The “good” news (if we can call it that) is that the traffic calming we were promised over a month ago should finally be installed soon—it has been paid for by Thames Water, and the council are awaiting approvals from TfL’s structures team (since the bridge is over the Jubilee line and DLR.) We hope this should be imminent but feel the delivery of traffic calming has taken much too long. We are also concerned that speed cushions might make close passes by motorists more likely. We will closely monitor the situation.

We have asked for the “do not overtake cyclists” signs we were promised by Thames Water on 20th September to be installed as well. Drivers overtaking cyclists has been a common theme in almost every report we’ve had from Greenway users of a near miss.

Newham Council are also looking at signing a diversion route via Bridge Road (parallel to the DLR.) While much safer than Abbey Road, and actually more convenient for accessing Stratford and destinations to the north east, Bridge Road is nowhere near up to the standard of the Greenway, with narrow bollards at the south end limiting access. It also adds considerable delay to journeys towards Bow and central London via C2, in the region of 10 minutes.

Diversion route via Stratford High Street, Bridge Road (parallel to DLR), Bakers Row, Abbey Road, Lerwick Street, Richardson Road, Pond Road, Manor Road. — The Bridge Road diversion which Newham Council are going to sign. It’s better than Abbey Road… but a significant diversion if you’re heading west.

The long-term (but still-might-not-happen) plan

The “permanent” solution Newham are planning is to widen the southern pavement on Abbey Road to provide a 4m two way cycle route, with the northern pavement reserved for pedestrians. A single lane would be available for motor traffic, which would either be one-way or operate in alternating directions. However there are a number of issues at play:

The timescale for this kind of work is at least 3-6 months, even with Newham’s officers focusing on it full time. This is frankly disastrous, meaning people cycling will continue to be endangered on the Greenway diversion well into the New Year (when many people begin cycling to work for the first time, and may have a terrifying first experience)
Physical infrastructure will be expensive—well over £150,000. While we obviously think this is a price worth paying to avoid even one serious injury or death, Newham Council is extremely strapped for cash; that money will have to come from somewhere.
Stakeholders may object to any solution on Abbey Road that reduces capacity for cars. If the Police have an issue with a full closure (exempting emergency services) they may also have an issue with reducing its capacity to make way for cycling infrastructure. This is despite—as we said before—Abbey Road not being on the Strategic Road Network, never being designed for the 9000+ vehicles that use it each day, and the A112 and A12 being eminently more suitable for those volumes of traffic.

We are not aware of any progress on the mooted diversion via Crows Road, which would run through private land.

Other things we have asked about

We asked about speed cameras. These would likely need co-operation from TfL and the Police.
We asked about changing the traffic light phasing on the Abbey Road/Leywick Street junction, to split the east/west phase into 2 phases and make it easier for people cycling to turn right. This would also require collaboration from TfL.

Further feedback from Greenway users

This is another selection of some of the feedback we have received. We have tried to credit the people who provided it where we can—please let us know if this is your feedback and you would like your name added (or removed.)

I was just almost flattened by a van swinging out of the yard at the junction where the greenway is closed, and the van then proceeded to block my exit onto the bridge. On top of this, the road surface on the bridge in wet conditions is highly dangerous, especially when being forced into the kerb by close passing traffic. — Laura, via email

The right turn into Leywick Street is particularly awful – much better for Abbey Road to be closed to vehicle traffic, or single lane with traffic lights enabling cyclists to use the other lane —hilbobbling via Instagram

A driver on the bridge heading towards West Ham from Stratford way overtook me at the bridge and when he realised he’d collide with a car coming the other way he cut back in and forced me to a near crash.— Orrin, via email

It’s ridiculous. That road is known for cars speeding and then add that to when you are cycling with your family… it’s added 15 mins minimum of stress to a relaxing family friendly route… — architect_mummy via Instagram

This is my route home. It’s not safe. I’m really not looking forward to using it in the wet and the dark. —@cattleprod via twitter

There is nothing to indicate to drivers that it has become a diversionary cycle route. Drivers ignore the 20mph speed limit and there are no cameras to enforce it. — annekehodnett via Instagram

What must happen now

Newham Council need to get their act together and deliver a truly safe solution for cycling on the Greenway, fast—preferably by Christmas. Thames Water, plus other organisations such as TfL, need to help them achieve this.

This could involve:

Giving Newham Council’s officers the money, staffing levels, resources, and expertise necessary to accelerate delivery of cycling infrastructure on Abbey Road Bridge–preferably by Christmas;
Reviving the experimental traffic order with a view to permanently closing Abbey Road bridge—yet again, a narrow and weak structure that was never designed for the heavy traffic it now sees;
Working fast to deliver a diversion via the currently-closed Crows Road and negotiating with landowners and stakeholders to make that happened

In the immediate term: Overtaking of cyclists on Abbey Road needs to stop. The “DO NOT OVERTAKE CYCLISTS” signs that were promised need to go up within days. Speed cameras and a police presence may lead to better compliance. We will contact TfL about speed cameras. Thames Water should contribute to the capital cost of installing any cameras.

In the long term, Thames Water needs to recognise the importance of the Greenway to the community and change their planning so that nothing like this happens in future years. Providing a safe alternative for people who rely on the Greenway for their daily travel should’ve been a key dependency that was fulfilled before the Greenway was closed.

What you can do

Your photos, videos, and stories are powerful! Share them with us at newham@lcc.org.uk or on Instagram and Twitter/X. We may soon be undertaking a larger campaigning activity in November—please let know if you want to get involved in this too, or better still, join our email newsgroup.

We naturally continue to encourage you to complain to your councillors (find out who they are here). While this decision was made by Newham Council’s officers (permanent employees) and not their elected representatives, it’s still important that you tell your councillors your concerns. It helps them gauge the strength of public feeling about the issue and press for action. If you want to make an impression, you could also write to the Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz.

It’s also worth complaining to Thames Water quoting ref BB00472913 because none of this would have happened had they managed their assets properly & not sprung a closure of the Greenway on the Council with only a few months’ notice. We think Thames Water must fund at least part of Newham’s costs for the permanent solution.

If you feel comfortable doing so, you should report any crashes or near misses on the diversion route to the police within 24 hours. This way they’ll show up in the collision statistics. Of course, we understand that not everyone wants to report to the police for a variety of reasons. Please still tell your councillors and share your story with us.

Jonathan Rothwell

Water Lane consultation

Newham Council are consulting on this scheme to add a parallel crossing for walking and cycling to Water Lane, connecting the Cycleway link between Manbey Grove and Louise Road. The deadline for responses is Friday 1st November.

We support this scheme and hope that it will go together with a wider scheme to improve both the C-link and the Water Lane area, which is blighted by high volumes of high speed traffic despite not being a main road. We are very aware that there was recently a fatal crash here (two Fridays ago.)

We’ve asked for clearer visual priority for people walking and cycling, with a continuous surface treatment, to make more likely that drivers will give way to people crossing (as they legally should.)

You can find our response below, and use that to inform your own response to the survey.

Newham Cyclists Water Lane crossing response Download

Take Action: East Village Cycle Connections

A map of East Village in London. Anthems Way, Celebration Avenue, Liberty Bridge Road, Temple Mills Lane, and Penny Brookes Street all have blue lines indicating cycle tracks; junction improvements at Temple Mills/Celebration Ave, Celebration Ave/Liberty Bridge, Celebration Ave/Penny Brookes, and Penny Brookes/Montfichet Road.

Newham Council are consulting on a long-term plan for cycling in East Village (the ex Olympic athlete’s village on the “new” side of Stratford). The designs are a step-change for the Olympic Park, an area whose cycling infra has been outdated from the moment it was built. The proposals include safer cycle tracks, continuous pavements for most of the streets in the area, and fixes for dangerous junctions.

We support the scheme, but would like Newham to do a little more to make sure everyone can benefit from it—particularly children cycling to school at Chobham Academy.

The consultation is open until Sunday 17th March: we recommend you support the scheme, but ask Newham to:

Deliver the scheme quickly, obtaining funding from the many housing and commercial developments in the area to do so.
Find a way for kids to cycle safely to school on Liberty Bridge Road over the railway line, where the designs currently dump people cycling out into the carriageway due to a width restriction. We’d like to see a bus gate, or an extension of the school street on Cheering Lane. Doing nothing is not an option.
Fix the Mirabelle Gardens-Elis Way-Cheering Lane rat run. Drivers leaving Westfield often use this as a shortcut to avoid the traffic lights on Celebration Avenue.

Remember: your own views and experiences will carry the most weight in consultations.

Say “yes please” to safer cycling in East Village!

Newham Cyclists – March 2024 East Village Connections response Download

Consultation response to LLDC’s Carpenters Road designs

The London Legacy Development Corporation is consulting on highway designs for Carpenters Road, due to re-open with the East Bank/Stratford Waterfront development. The planning references are 22/00256/AOD and 22/00249/NMA and can be checked on LLDC’s planning register.

We have been consulted throughout the design process for this as part of LLDC’s Sustainable and Active Travel Group, and this early engagement has been welcome.

We support the principle of a cycleway on Carpenters Road, but are concerned about the details of the proposals. In particular, we worry that they repeat mistakes made elsewhere in the park (e.g. on Montfichet Road) and don’t adequately deal with speeding and rat-running, which was a major problem before Carpenters Road closed for construction (over 80% of vehicles exceeded the 20mph speed limit.) We think that a longer term solution must involve serious measures to reduce traffic, which would then unlock space for better walking and cycling provision.

You can read our consultation response PDF below.

Newham Cyclists Carpenters Rd consultation response Download

Take Action: Say YES to plans for new look Westfield Avenue and a fresh start for cycling in the Olympic Park

An artists' impression of a two-way cycle track next to a wide pavement and a 2 lane road, with rain gardens separating the track and the pavement. People say, "so much space!" and "no more dodging trees & bus stops!" and one silhouetted person cycling is marked out as "this could be you in 2025!"

Respond to consultation By Sat 30 July

For a long time, Westfield Avenue has been one of the worst places to cycle in our borough. Pedestrian lights across tiny crossovers. Surprise obstacles. Pavement parking. Crossings where you’re expected to wait up to four times on caged traffic islands for the light to turn green. It’s an embarrassment to the Olympic Legacy.

A pedestrian crossing with a countdown traffic signal over a very small crossover into a loading yard on a four-lane road. — WESTFIELD AVENUE TODAY: Cluttered, car-dominated, ugly

A central island on a complex and busy 6-lane road, with guardrail and concrete blocks obstructing the way. In the distance, a narrow cycle track is obstructed by signage. — WESTFIELD AVENUE TODAY: Cluttered, car-dominated, ugly

We’re thrilled that the London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council are consulting on a brand new design for Westfield Avenue, which they hope to start building next year and finish by 2025. This is unlike anything we’ve seen in the Olympic Park before: a high quality, best-practice design from the start, with people walking and cycling taking priority over motorists. It’s been 10 long years, but this is much better late than never!

A two-lane road across a bridge, with a bus stop island accessed by a zebra crossing over a two-way cycle track, a pavement on both sides, and planters separating the cycle track from cars. — WESTFIELD AVENUE PLANS: Convenient, comfortable, at a human scale

LLDC and Newham need to know that local people want it. If you visit Westfield or the London Stadium, or if you live nearby at the Carpenters Estate, or in Hackney Wick, East Village, or International Quarter—tell them “yes please!”

Visualisation of a road with trees on both sides and a 2-way cycle track on the left side, with bus stop bypasses and a lighted pedestrian crossing.

Take action by Saturday 30th July

Respond to consultation By Sat 30 July

Here’s how to tell LLDC and Newham Council that you like the plans for Westfield Avenue’s makeover:

Go to westfieldavenue.commonplace.is. You might need to provide your email address
Click “Have Your Say”
On the proposals for Westfield Avenue:
- Say “Strongly Agree” for widened pavements, widened crossing points, improved lighting, and location of bus stops
- Say “Strongly Agree” for a 3m cycleway separated from the road and pavement with crossings, relocation of bus stops and loading bays, additional cycle stands and e-bike charging, and additional Santander cycle hire facilities on Westfield Avenue
- Say what you think of the idea to move the Aquatics Centre cycle hire stand to Westfield Avenue, and also the locations of the motorcycle parking, taxi rank, loading bays, and the crossovers and side roads (e.g. at Glasshouse Gardens and Turing Street.)
On the “Additional Features” page:
- Say “Happy/Love It!” to the seating, trees, and planting on Westfield Avenue
- Say what you think of the redesigned Stratford Walk (the bridge between Westfield and the Aquatics Centre)
If you have time to write any more…
- Support the new one-way southbound on Olympic Park Avenue—this will eliminate a rat-run through residential areas and allow a continuous cycle route across the railway line
- Ask for further work in the future to redesign Marshgate Lane junction, to separate all modes and reduce speeds
- Ask for a smooth, flat cycle track that’s accessible to all kinds of cycle (including tricycles, wheelchair clip-on hand cycles, recumbents, etc.)

Respond to consultation By Sat 30 July

Our Response

You can read our response to the consultation here. We strongly support the proposals, but suggest additional changes to the Marshgate Lane junction in future to fully separate all modes.

Westfield Ave consultation repsonse from Newham Cyclists Download

MSG Sphere Proposals – Take Action

Take action: Stop MSG Sphere bringing more cars to Stratford

Planning applications 19/00097/FUL and 19/00098/ADV

The Madison Square Garden company wants to build a new 21,500-capacity music venue next door to Stratford Station. It will be in the shape of a giant, glowing sphere (similar to Rover from The Prisoner), towering over residential blocks and the newly improved Stratford Town Centre.

We at Newham Cyclists are deeply worried by the proposals for the Sphere:

MSG have taken a look at the current travel patterns to gigs at the London Stadium, decided they’re acceptable (we disagree), and proposed exactly the same modal share for this new, ‘state-of-the-art’ venue. That means:
- around 2,600 people driving to a sold out event—and a paltry cycling modal share of 0.1%. (It’s not like people will never cycle to gigs: the cycle parking at the All Points East festival in Victoria Park was actually full up!)
- thousands more people through Stratford station at rush hour, making the station unusable for local residents and pushing many more people into their cars for short journeys.
- We want a travel plan that aims for a cycling modal share of 5-10%, and doesn’t create worse overcrowding at Stratford station.
Cycling has been tossed a carrot in the form of an extended cycleway on Montfichet Road… but it looks just as bad as some of the older stuff in the Olympic Park. Interrupted by shared areas, with conflict between walking and cycling baked into the design. In 2019, we should be doing better.
More worryingly, their answer to the current pinch point and painted cycle lanes on Angel Lane (the Sphere’s main access road)? Narrow the road, so everyone—kids, grandparents, Disabled folk—has to cycle uphill, in front of lorries, artists’ coaches, speeding minicabs… the lot. This is bad. TfL have found that lots more people could cycle along Angel Lane in future (see TfL Strategic Cycling Analysis Route 7)—but if these plans go ahead, that will lock many of these people out from cycling here for decades. Considering we need to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, that’s plain irresponsible. We want an exemplar cycling facility here.
Newham Cyclists will formally object to the MSG Sphere application… but we need your help. You can send your own response to the planning application and tell LLDC and MSG that this isn’t good enough.In a hurry? Use our template to send an objection email. Click here and your computer will pre-populate an email. Don’t forget to personalise it with your name, address, and ways the Sphere will affect you!

Got a little more time? Write your own objection like this:

Send an email to planningenquiries@londonlegacy.co.uk;
Quote references 19/00097/FUL and 19/00098/ADV;
State that you formally object to the planning application.
Feel free to use or reference our reasons for objecting—but don’t forget, put it in your own words and use your own experiences. (For instance: Live near Maryland? Don’t feel safe cycling in front of lorries on Angel Lane to get to the shops? Do your kids go to school in the Olympic Park? Expressing your concerns in terms of the impact the Sphere will have on you, and your family and friends, will hold more sway with the planning committee.)
Don’t forget to include your name and address.
Send the email by Friday 28th June 2019. You’ve not got long, but it doesn’t take long to object—just five minutes to send an email will be enough!

Support the Stratford Town Centre improvements

Please support the Stratford Town Centre Improvement plan by filling out the consultation questionnaire by Monday, 28th of November 2016.

The link to the online questionnaire is:

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=147791813793

Olawale has produced a very easy and quick guide to help fill in the questionnaire (a total of #11 questions) with regards to specific support for the proposed cycling infrastructure.Â It should only take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete!! (see PDF file nc-recommended-answers-to-sg-questionnaire-1)

The NC ‘recommendations’ focus on Questions #1, #3, #6, #7, #9 and #10 (6- choice tick answer option) with short ‘further comments’ additions for Questions #3, #6, #7and #10. All highlighted in bold italic red font in the PDF file attachment.

If you have more time don’t hesitate to elaborate further in your own words when filling in the questionnaire. Many thanks for support.