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Whats in Wapping

100 days on Wapping Island for London 2012 Olympics

by What's in Wapping on June 14, 2011 in Wapping Life

100 days on Wapping Island for London 2012 Olympics

We attended TfL’s drop in session in Wapping on 23rd May and heard about the extensive and disruptive road restrictions E1W will face during the London 2012 Olympics [...read more].

Many questions were unanswered and alternative routes along The Highway where right-turns out of Wapping are prohibited just won’t work.

Pedestrian crossings at junctions will close, making attempts to exit Wapping even more difficult and dangerous especially for children, the elderly and less able.

Greater London Assembly member John Biggs has told the Daily Telegraph “The Highway is a very dangerous road and taking out the pedestrian crossings is very risky. The whole consultation has been very flawed and this risks leaving people isolated and unable to get on with their normal lives”.

100 days on Wapping Island

It seems the full impact of the proposals has only emerged after the second badly publicised consultation phase closed on 6th June. Much of Wapping received no communication from TfL about the drop in events and we discovered them ourselves via social networks, Twitter and Facebook.

The Olympics lasts just 28 days but Wapping can expect three months of logistical chaos if current plans go ahead.

MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick also spoke to the Telegraph, adding “There are clearly legitimate concerns and I will be seeking a meeting with Transport for London to see if we can mitigate the worst problems.”

Read the full article by Daily Telegraph’s Transport Editor David Millward and vote in the online poll asking whether you think the travel restrictions for the London 2012 Olympics are over the top [...view article].

St Katherine Docks share Wapping concerns

Residents of St Katherine Docks are also opposed to the Olympic Route Network (ORN) and Paralympic Route Network (PRN) plans as they currently stand. Like Wapping, many living there were unaware of TfL’s consultation until it had ended.

Paul Garwood, Chairman of City Quay Management Company (CQMC) and a member of the Friends of St Katherine Docks (FoSKD) residents group made a detailed submission to TfL on 4th June suggesting solutions to some of the many problems the current plans will create [...read submission].

Like many of us, Paul is still waiting for a response from TfL.

Feedback to TfL for Phase 3 and 4 consultations

Information on the proposed changes can be found at www.tfl.gov.uk/ORN and an update after Phase 2 closed on 6th June can be viewed at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/orn/32: this asked for feedback to be sent by email to to ORNandPRNengagement@tfl.gov.uk.

Let’s make sure our concerns are heard and put pressure on TfL to carry out future consultations responsibly.

We love Wapping and our fantastic views, but don’t let E1W become a dangerous and isolated island surrounded by gridlocked traffic for 100 days.

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  • http://twitter.com/SredniVashtari SredniVashtari

    Let’s start a campaign for a 100 day council tax rebate for us since we have to put up with this nonsense. I’d rather be able to travel than have the money, but they shouldn’t get off scot free. By ‘they’ I mean whoever planned this fiasco, if that get up LBTH’s nose we’ll just refer them to TfL et al. If you agree please write to LBTH, and/or retweet my tweets on subject, or do anything you think might work. Prob won’t work but …

  • Lisa

    Whether or not you own a car is totally besides the point. As a resident of Wapping you should have the option available to leave and enter in a car, taxi, bus, tube or on foot without being massively inconvinenced for the sake of a few impatient Olympic officials who are too good to stay in East London themselves. It is disgusting. I am thankful our baby was due this summer and not next. Getting to the hospital on an overcrowded tube in labour would be a personal nightmare. Whether you own a car or not this Olympic highway will cause disruption to us all.

  • Helen

    It isn’t only deliveries to businesses (inc the pharmacy) that will be affected, Wapping Health Centre was not consulted about the road closures and wonders about deliveries in jeopardy inc how their blood and other clinical samples are going to get up to the Royal London for lab analysis …

  • Helen

    It isn’t only deliveries to businesses (inc the pharmacy) that will be affected, Wapping Health Centre was not consulted about the road closures and wonders about deliveries in jeopardy inc how their blood and other clinical samples are going to get up to the Royal London for lab analysis …

  • Yvonne

    I agree with Geoff Juden in that the inconvenience it will cause could give us some leverage with TFL in the Riverboat for Wapping campaign.   If they want to make us an island at least let us have a boat! 

  • MummyPenguin

    I am disabled, live in Wapping and work in Central London. I currently use a cab to get me there and back – I cannot use public transport. Nor can I work from home for the duration of the Games. 

    I will need to allow  extra time for the journey (currently around 30 minutes), not to mention having to get up even earlier than my current 6:00 am start to ensure I am ready for an earlier collection time than my present 8:30. Yes, it does take me the best part of two hours to get washed dressed and fed. The nature of my disability means increased speed is not an option. I think this will impact severely on me. Can anyone explain why there is not a rule that Games officials and competitors are required to be ‘housed’ within walking distance of their event venues? And that includes all those ‘dignitaries’ who grace the Games with their attendance.

  • Helen

    A Nissan micra part-owner writes: for the infirm attending the gp practice in Shadwell or hospital appts anywhere this will be a nightmare, as will calling emergency vehicles. Hope my partner isn’t in hospital again over next summer as it will difficult to visit, or for them to come home. There is a real possibility of civil disobedience on a large scale if the govt isn’t careful.

  • Rooneypoos

    My main route out of Wapping is on foot. I’ve looked properly at the proposals, and I can see this causing me a good few problems – as a young and capable person, I can cope with this and just call it a daily inconvenience. For those with physical disabilities, the elderly, or those with young children, this will be an absolute nightmare.

  • TonyR

    No, they don’t. The removal of the pedestrian crossings means that crossing the Highway to get to Tower Hill tube will be a nightmare. Don’t forget that two of the traffic lanes will be for Olympic traffic only and the other will be jammed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mark.baynes Mark Baynes

    Good for you – what about people who use the bus to travel to work, especially late at night or early in the morning, and the disabled?

  • Domi

     Just because someone lives in an expensive flat doesn’t mean they have a car! No one I know in London, regardless of their circumstances, owns a car.

  • http://www.paulbrockphotography.co.uk Brock

    the Docks residents probably all own cars, and big ones at that.  I have to say this doesn’t worry me unduly.  The ways out of Wapping I normally use, the tube station and Tower Hill tube station, remain completely accessible.

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