Memorandum submitted by the London Borough
of Tower Hamlets
BACKGROUND
Tower Hamlets Council, as one of the host boroughs
for the London 2012 Olympic Games, is pleased to have the opportunity
to make this submission to the Transport Select Committee Inquiry
"Delivering Excellent Transport for London's 2012 Olympics
Games".
Tower Hamlets is situated on the western periphery
of the Olympic Park. The eastern fringe of the Borough lies within
the Lower Lea Valley, designated a zone for growth in the Mayor's
London Plan, and an area which the borough itself has designated
for the preparation of an Action Area Plan. The Council recognises
the catalyst which the 2012 Olympics will present for the regeneration
of this part of East London, as well as for promotion of healthy
lifestyles and sports development.
As the Olympic and Paralympic Games are the
world's biggest event, the positive effects of hosting the Games
for Tower Hamlets are huge. The Games will create 11,000 permanent
jobs and 7,000 construction jobs, and be a huge boost to business.
The Games will build on the local passion for sport ( the borough
has venues such as York Hall and helped produce athletes such
as Audley Harrison and Ashia Hansen ) and help improve health
and education, and tackle anti-social behaviour. The Games will
also help to celebrate our diversity: London has 200 communities
and 300 languages, many of which are found in Tower Hamlets.
After the Games, there will be a legacy of world
class sports facilities in east London for athletics, swimming,
cycling, hockey and other sports. Legacy plans propose that 9000
homes will be built in east London of which 900 will be in Tower
Hamlets. There will be a new primary school and possibly other
new community facilities, as well as 11,000 sq.m. of commercial
floorspace. Land in the east of the borough will form part of
the biggest new urban park to be built in Europe for 150 years.
There is further potential for a range of employment and residential
uses to be developed on the Olympic coach park site within Tower
Hamlets where no legacy proposals have currently been developed.
During the preparation of the bid for the 2012
Games this Council worked closely with its colleagues in the other
host boroughs, liaising with the London Development Agency (LDA),
Transport for London (TfL) and London 2012 to bring its local
knowledge to bear for the benefit of the bid.
Indeed, in their capacity as Planning Authorities
for the area affected by the Olympic Park proposals, the five
host boroughs formed a unique Joint Planning Authorities Team
(JPAT) to consider in detail the planning applications submitted
by the LDA for the Olympic Park and legacy developments. JPAT
appointed expert transport advisors to scrutinise the transport
assessment submitted as part of the planning applications which
is referred to in evidence from Thames Gateway London Partnership.
Working together through the Thames Gateway
London Partnership (TGLP) the boroughs were also able to scrutinise
the more strategic impacts of the transport plans brought forward
by the Mayor for London to support the Olympic Bid. We have liaised
with TGLP in the preparation of their evidence on the sub-regional
impacts.
The Council has also welcomed Hugh Sumner, TfL
Director of Olympic Transport Strategy on several occasions to
appraise Members and their constituents of the developing strategy
for dealing with meeting the IOC transport requirements for the
Games. The Council understands that the transport proposals in
the final bid book submission were considered to be practical
and effective by the IOC evaluators. The IOC evaluation commission
said: "During the bid process, substantial London rail transport
infrastructure investments have been clearly confirmed, guaranteed
and accelerated. Provided that this proposed programme of public
transport improvements is fully delivered on schedule before 2012
and the extensive Olympic Route Network is implemented, the Commission
believes that London would be capable of coping with Games-time
traffic and that Olympic and Paralympic transport requirements
would be met."
However, it is recognised that much more detailed
work needs to be undertaken to ensure effective delivery of these
proposals and Tower Hamlets recognises its role in supporting
the Olympic Delivery Authority to this end. The Council will continue
to scrutinise the Olympic Transport Strategy proposals with the
benefit of intimate knowledge of the local transport networks
and the wider community, in order to ensure that the proposals
work effectively during the period of the Games. Consequently
the Council welcomes this opportunity to highlight to the Select
Committee what it anticipates to be the local impacts of the proposals.
The questions set by the Select Committee are
wide-ranging and as a result of the relationships outlined above,
the Council is well-placed to answer some but not all of them.
Our colleagues in JPAT and TGLP have provided a strategic view
of the impacts in the sub-region whilst this submission focusses
on areas where the Council has more expertise, namely the integration
of transport projects into the long term plan for London, the
appropriateness of the legacy to East London's needs and the impact
on transport in the interim.
The Council has four specific topics which it
wishes to address in this submission. These are:
— Investment in transport and growth
in East London
— Local highway impacts of the Olympic
Transport Strategy
— Liaison with local businesses
— Possible conflicts between Crossrail
construction and the Olympic Games
1. INVESTMENT
IN INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT AND
GROWTH IN
EAST LONDON
In his Transport Strategy, the Mayor for London
clearly set out his proposals for an integrated transport network
in London. Many of his proposals focussed investment in East London
in recognition of the major growth in employment and housing planned
for that area within his London Plan. Tower Hamlets Council has
expressed its support for many of these proposals for some considerable
time.
As a founder member of the East London Line
Group, the Council has proactively lobbied with its partners for
the extension of the East London Line. The Mayor for London committed
to constructing this line in his early statements demonstrating
support for the Olympic Bid. The line is now to be extended to
Dalston in the north and Crystal Palace in the south with a new
station in Tower Hamlets at Shoreditch High St (replacing the
existing Shoreditch station ). The target date for opening the
line is 2010, although construction itself will necessitate an
18 month closure of the existing line from mid 2008. The extended
line will provide a valuable north-south link by-passing congested
central London termini and offering interchange with many existing
tube and mainline services, as well as creating an important transport
hub at Whitechapel when Crossrail proposals are also taken into
account. The Council's support has been based upon the new access
the extended line will provide to deprived parts of Inner London
such as the City fringe, as well as offering significant journey
time savings between South London, North London and employment
opportunities in Canary Wharf and Thames Gateway.
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) provides a
local, sub-regional fully accessible light rail service covering
much of the western Thames Gateway area, and is a valuable piece
in the integrated transport network of the area. DLR had developed
a number of extensions and capacity enhancement proposals to keep
pace with the scale of regeneration in its catchment area. Many
of those proposals which were still on the drawing board were
given new impetus and funding by the Mayor signalling his commitment
to improving transport for the Olympics. The Council has previously
registered its support for DLR extensions to Woolwich and Stratford
International, and a new finger platform at Stratford on the Bow
line will also enable a proposed new DLR station at Langdon Park
to be taken forward with possible construction by 2009. The improved
accessibility these improvements create has been recognised as
an important ingredient in supporting future growth in the Lower
Lee Valley.
Enhanced service frequencies on the North London
Line (NLL) is also consistent with the Council's regeneration
plans for the north-east areas of the Borough. The Council has
recently constructed a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the
Regents Canal to provide more direct access to Hackney Wick Station
(NLL), supporting regeneration by improving accessibility to the
area and recognising the important of the NLL. This bridge is
one of a series of new pedestrian/cycle bridges the Council is
developing in the Lower Lea area to support regeneration through
increasing accessibility and overcoming the physical barrier of
the river. The Olympics legacy proposals have built on these proposals.
The Olympics has also been instrumental in securing
capacity enhancements being brought forward on the Jubilee Line.
Although always part of the long term intentions, securing the
final confirmation offered in the Olympic Bid process has been
welcomed, given the importance of this route for serving the Canary
Wharf area and the level of overcrowding already experienced at
peak times.
Our colleagues in the London Borough of Newham
have set out clearly and concisely the issues to be resolved at
Stratford station. Although beyond the Tower Hamlets boundary.
Stratford Station provides an essential interchange for access
to the borough and we echo the concerns raised by Newham in this
context.
2. LOCAL HIGHWAY
IMPACTS OF
THE OLYMPIC
TRANSPORT STRATEGY
Olympic developments located within Tower Hamlets
include the Coach Park at Wick Lane, in the south west of the
Olympic Park, and Arena 4 for fencing. The Bow Industrial Park
will be the site of the sponsor's showcase and Mile End and Victoria
Parks will be used as training venues.
The Coach Park will be located at the Wick Lane
junction with the A12 which is at present heavily used by traffic
seeking to access the City area from the north-east. During the
period of the Games it is proposed that the junction be closed
to all but Olympic traffic, with a temporary road closure on the
Tredegar Road access from the west. The Council is concerned that
TfL have not yet fully assessed the impacts of this closure. There
are both positive and negative points which need to be considered.
On the one hand the closure would reduce the level of through
traffic which pours through the area at peak times, destroying
the residential amenity of that area. On the other hand, many
businesses in that area make their money from this passing trade
and could suffer.
The above closure needs to be assessed alongside
the proposed Olympic lanes to be introduced on the A12 and A13.
Closing the Wick Lane A12 junction will cause traffic to redistribute
across the network. The closure will also severely restrict access
into the Bow area, as few alternative routes exist. The diverted
traffic will thus be using some of the spare capacity TfL predict
to be available during the summer months, and may lead to new
points of congestion. The Council is concerned that more detailed
analysis needs to be carried out on these impacts in order to
ensure that changed patterns of access do not produce resulting
problems for movement both on the priority Olympic routes and
in the local area. We are keen to work with TfL to understand
the potential issues and have already highlighted the issue in
our Local Implementation Plan in order that TfL funding can be
secured to deal with the problem for the benefit of residents,
local businesses and the Olympic Games.
Through the Local Implementation Plan the Council
has also indicated its plans for complementary streetscene works
to upgrade the environment in the Borough by 2011 and create an
environment visitors to the Games will be attracted to in order
to help local businesses to benefit from having some many international
visitors in the vicinity.
3. LIAISON WITH
LOCAL BUSINESSES
The success of the Olympic Transport Strategy
in highways terms will be very much dependent on maintaining the
reduction in traffic currently observed during the summer months.
This creates spare capacity which can be reallocated for Olympic
Priority lanes. Through the Tower Hamlets Business Forum and our
Canary Wharf Transport Forum the Council has facilitated information
exchange with businesses on the impact of the Olympics event,
and TfL have already begun talks to encourage more flexible working
practices during that period to reduce traffic levels further.
We would hope to develop these relationships in the coming years.
4. POSSIBLE CONFLICTS
BETWEEN CROSSRAIL
CONSTRUCTION AND
THE OLYMPIC
GAMES
The area of Tower Hamlets directly affected
by land-take for the Olympics is centred upon the Bow Midland
Yards, east of the A12, between Old Ford and Bow Flyover. This
area is currently used as railway sidings and aggregate/general
depots and extends across the borough boundary into Newham. The
intention of the Olympics is to utilise both yards to provide
an athletics warm up track (located within Newham) and car parking
(which may also have a security role). It is estimated that the
sites will be required for the construction phase of the Olympics
in 2011. This will allow for the construction element and rehearsals
etc.
The Crossrail (CR) scheme has been initially
programmed to be completed by 2013, with the base design assuming
a partial use of the Pudding Mill Lane site (adjoining the Olympic
Park) as the main portal to the set of tunnels towards/from the
City. Tunnel Boring machines will be launched from this point
and spoil removed by train. The construction programme for CR
includes a 2 year enabling works period followed by a 6 year main
construction phase. To date, little has been undertaken on the
enabling works and we can easily assume that the base case will
not start until 2006 at the earliest, suggesting it will not be
complete until 2014.
The base case also assumes that there will be
a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) launch site from Hanbury Street
(in Spitalfields) together with a spoil disposal strategy that
utilises the Pedley Street Conveyor to Mile End Park. From this
point spoil would be removed by rail towards the Pudding Mill
Lane site.
The TBM launch chamber at Pudding Mill Lane
will abut the River Lea and will stray into the Bow Midland Yards.
Although CR have indicated that there would be no impact on the
Olympics, with this scheme we believe that the programming of
the CR works may have an impact if the commencement of the works
is further delayed. The prospect of a major spoil handling site
adjacent to the Olympic park raises the risk of poor environmental
quality (dust and noise) in a location which is extremely sensitive
to such problems. The worst case scenario would be that the works
would have to stop on the CR scheme, well in advance of the Olympics
to allow the air quality to improve. This option would be costly
and may not be practical in engineering terms.
Tower Hamlets, in preparing its petition against
some details of the Crossrail Bill, has been assessing the alternative
approach of using only Pudding Mill Lane as the launch site for
the TBMs and driving through to Whitechapel/Farringdon. This would
mean that spoil would be emerging for a longer period predominantly
within the Pudding Mill Lane/Stratford Lands complex. This would
have a further impact on the Bow Midland Yards as above, plus
there will need to be a retention of the Rail Freight facilities
either in the Bow Midland Yards or within the Stratford Lands
area. Tunnelling would still need to stop as above if this option
were to proceed.
In both the CR Base Case and the alternative
possibility offered for consideration by Tower Hamlets, we believe
the tunnelling work site at Pudding Mill Lane could have an environmental
impact on the Olympics events. The Council is not the party to
answer these concerns, but we feel it is important to ask the
questions of both the CR Promoters and the Olympics Promoters:
— Will the construction of these two
major projects impact negatively on each other and how can this
be overcome to ensure the 2012 Games are not prejudiced?
— What contingency plans can be put
in place to ensure that the proximity of a major tunnel spoil
disposal site is not operating at times when the environment must
be protected for the benefit of visitors to the Olympic venues?
— Could the CR site be closed down
and spoil disposal temporarily diverted if necessary so as not
to further delay the CR project?
CONCLUSION
The Olympic Games present a major opportunity
for East London. Although it is clear there are still some detailed
points to be resolved, this Council is keen to work with Olympic
Delivery Authority to make a success of the Games for the local
community, for East London, the United Kingdom and the World!
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