Westfield Avenue public realm improvement scheme
Newham Council, in partnership with London Legacy Development Corporation, is improving the road layout and street environment along Westfield Avenue and the southern section of Waterden Road. This is a main thoroughfare in Newham, connecting Stratford Station and Westfield Stratford City with Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and London Borough of Hackney.
The Westfield Avenue public realm improvement scheme will create a more pleasant street environment and enable more walking and cycling along the corridor. The project will provide a general uplift by creating a high street environment with wider pavements, segregated cycle tracks, better crossings and connections to local destinations, and more greenery and planting. These changes aim to create safe and attractive streets for everyone to enjoy, improving air quality and encouraging people to be more active and healthy.
Key project features
- Create a high street environment where people will enjoy spending time
- New and improved street lighting
- Improve the cycling experience by introducing two-way segregated cycle tracks
- Slow down vehicle speeds by introducing a 20mph speed limit
- Improve the pedestrian experience by widening footways
- Bus stops moved to more desirable locations
- Additional pedestrian crossings
- More greenery, trees and planting
Contact
Overall project queries
For queries about the overall project, including project objectives and designs, contact the Newham project team:
westfieldavenue@newham.gov.uk
Construction-related queries
For queries about construction, including disruption, parking suspensions, diversions, noise and timescales, contact the construction contractor:
KJE@Kensonhighways.com
Phases
Public consultation
Public consultation for the Westfield Avenue was undertaken in Summer 2022 through several channels to reach as many residents and businesses as possible. These channels included face-to-face engagement and online engagement with printed publications on request to ensure accessibility.
Engagement activities included:
- Posters were placed around the project area by LLDC for the local community and visitors to engage online or attend face-to-face events
- Online engagement platform Commonplace used for Online Survey
- Engagement sessions were held for local resident representatives – including LLDC’s Park Panel, Sustainable Active Transport Group, Legacy Youth Voice and targeted sessions. These sessions were held at different times and locations, with being held hybrid virtually online via Microsoft Teams and also face-to-face.
Survey results
We received 465 responses to the consultation survey. This includes 267 responses to the online survey and 198 via drop-in sessions held by LLDC.
Support for key topics were as follows:
- Widened pavements: 86% supportive + 6% neutral
- Widened crossing points: 79% supportive + 7% neutral
- Segregated cycleway: 78% supportive + 4% neutral
- Improved lighting: 77% supportive + 10% neutral
- Additional cycle stands, a cycle maintenance stand and potential e-bike charging point: 76% supportive + 7% neutral
- Additional Santander cycle hire facilities on Westfield Avenue: 73% supportive + 12% neutral
- Proposed location of bus stops: 64% supportive + 24% neutral
- Relocation of cycle hire: 60% supportive + 23% neutral
- Proposed crossovers into places like Glass House Gardens and side road like Turing Street: 51% supportive + 36% neutral
- Proposed location of loading bays: 36% supportive + 54% neutral
- Proposed location of motorcycle parking: 33% supportive + 50% neutral
- Proposed location of taxi rank: 33% supportive + 52% neutral
Overall, the proposed objectives of the scheme were well supported by respondents, which suggests that the programme of improving public space and active/sustainable transport in the Westfield Avenue is welcome.