Transforming West Ealing into a Liveable Neighbourhood

The Live West Ealing scheme will transform a community of over 6,000 homes in West London, addressing a number of current issues to achieve the Council's vision for West Ealing, which is: “Support a resilient, prosperous and healthy neighbourhood where residents and workers feel safe and more likely to make sustainable travel choices”. The core objectives of the West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood are to:

• Improve the public realm, making streets and spaces more attractive, welcoming, and accessible.
• Increase the number of people walking, using public transport and cycling, to, from and through West Ealing.
• Reduce the number of car journeys overall, and achieve a mode shift from car to walking, cycling and public transport.
• Reduce air pollution levels to within legal limits, through a reduction in car trips.
• Help people feel comfortable and safe on streets, by reducing crime levels and perceptions of crime to promote feelings of safety.

Our team developed an overarching plan based on the vision to provide a coherent narrative for the proposed projects in West Ealing, and ultimately, to knit together the neighbourhood, providing safe, green and attractive walking and cycling routes within the area, with public realm and place-making interventions to contribute to an enhanced local identity.

Key elements of the plan include:

• Functional improvements to the Broadway to strengthen its role as the defining feature of the core area: a busy high street full of activity and footfall to support local businesses. The priority is to improve environmental conditions, safety for pedestrian and cyclists, improve access to buses and importantly to make it easier to cross, bringing together the communities living to the north and the south.
• Improvements along the Singapore Road/Witham Road and Leeland Terrace east-west routes which complement and provide a ‘quiet’ local alternative to the busy Broadway. The emphasis is on widened pavements, accessible crossings, tree planting and a series of pocket parks.
• A focus on streetscape and place-making improvements to create green and safe and attractive walking and cycling routes, and spaces to spend time in, including creative lighting, art installations, and heritage information.
• A network of routes for walking and cycling extending out from the core through the wider neighbourhood, connecting key places such as schools, parks and other local destinations. Selected interventions such as modal filters and traffic calming along these routes are proposed to reduce traffic dominance and make these quieter and more pleasant routes.

In addition to the physical improvements described in the overarching plan, targeted communications and behaviour change initiatives will also be developed. These will encourage residents, businesses and visitors within West Ealing to adopt active and sustainable transportation modes, such as walking and cycling, as well as the use of buses and trains for longer journeys.

Other initiatives will be used to encourage people to be involved in measures to improve the local environment, such as dealing with rubbish or helping grow community gardens. This will support an increase in physical activity, reduction of emissions and related threats, and an improved quality of life for the residents and workers of the neighbourhood.

Successes and outcomes

Within an overall scheme budget of approximately £9 million, our ambitious plans will transform West Ealing into a healthier, greener and more pleasant place to live and work for residents and workers.

The likely benefits of the West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood are improvements in safety conditions for cyclists and pedestrians; increased use of active transport modes; an uplift in the image and identity of the area through various public realm treatments, and improvement to amenity and local quality of life.