E10 Hit Again

The first trees have been cut down on the Leyton Relief Road (LRR) route in East London. As yet there is no security, although portakabins have arrived on site.

The Leyton Relief Road is potentially a major development and will point directly across Walthamstow marshes (two SSSIs and a Nature Reserve).

The scheme for the Leyton Relief Road has been floating around since the East London Assessment Survey, when it was part of a proposed route for the M11 Link Road. In the event, the M11 Link Road is being built down the Roding Valley but ever since the 1960s bits of the Lea Valley proposed route keep getting built anyway although of course these are "only little local road schemes."

The Public Inquiry into the Unitary Development Plan was won when the Inspector recommended the wholesale deletion of the Leyton Relief Road scheme as it would "release suppressed demand" for a major road right up the valley. The Labour and Tory groups on the local council voted to ignore this and John Gummer decided not to overrule them because the scheme "did not warrant the intervention of the Secretary of State for the Environment." Contact 0181 527 9857