page_title: Westway (London)
section_title: Environment
hierarchical_section_title: Westway (London) / Environment
caption_attribution_description: English: Acklam Road, W10 The flyover to the left of the picture carries the busy A40 Westway. I do not know if the local authority flats on the right hand side were built before or after the flyover -- it must be an extremely noisy and polluted environment in which to live.
context_page_description: The Westway is a 2.5-mile elevated dual carriageway section of the A40 trunk road in West London running from Paddington in the east to North Kensington in the west. It connects the London Inner Ring Road to the West London suburbs.
  The road was constructed between 1962 and 1970 to connect the proposed London Ringways motorway scheme to Paddington, and opened as the A40. It was the first urban motorway project in London and attracted criticism for the lack of care over the environment, the well-being of local residents and communities, and handling those whose homes would be demolished. Road protests increased following its opening. In 2000, the Westway was downgraded to an all-purpose road after the formation of Transport for London. The road has become a significant London landmark and has been noted in several works of popular culture.
context_section_description: The Westway was planned and constructed in an era before environmental impacts were routinely considered, and it caused controversy at the time for the effects it and the vehicles it carried had upon the local community and the environment. At the opening ceremony, Heseltine was jeered by protesters armed with placards. A group of squatters moved into vacant houses on Freston Road near to those demolished for the Westway, forming a so-called "independent state" of Frestonia.
  Residents on Acklam Road, which ran parallel to the Westway between Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park, draped a large banner across several houses reading "Get us out of this hell! Rehouse us now!" Locals complained about having to use Westbourne Terrace and Gloucester Terrace, both residential streets with several listed buildings, as access roads for the Westway. Shortly after opening, a group of residents planned to blockade the motorway and stop traffic in protest at the excessive noise of the road. Eight houses on Walmer Road, North Kensington, severed by the construction of the Westway, were planned to be demolished and their residents re-homed, but there were no plans for other nearby properties. Until 1973, there was no legal obligation to compensate anyone living outside the boundaries of the highway, no matter how close their property was or what nuisance the road may have caused.
  On 9 August 1970, the Westway was closed for an hour after a group of 80 protesters marched along the road carrying placards. Four people were arrested. The following month, the GLC announced that a further 28 homes on Walmer Road would be compulsory purchased and the residents moved, in order to build a new school. In March 1971, it was announced that all 41 homes on Acklam Road would be demolished. By 1972, it had been estimated approximately 5,000 families had lost their homes for each mile of the Westway constructed. In 1974, the GLC announced 11.5 acres (4.7 ha) of land in Notting Hill to the north of the Westway would be compulsory purchased and redeveloped with new apartments and screening walls to reduce noise from the motorway.
  The project has since been condemned for the negative effect it had on local communities and housing, and contributed to the increased interest in anti-road protesting. The British Road Federation called the Westway "one of the insensitive and socially unacceptable examples of motorways." The North Kensington Playspace Group was established in 1966 by Adam Ritchie, who strongly criticised the Westway, saying "a more inappropriate and negative use for the space could not be imagined". The North Kensington Amenity Trust (now Westway Development Trust), was founded in 1971 to develop the land for local community use. Since 2000, local charity Urban Eye has initiated a programme of cleaning, painting, and lighting to improve the visual appearance and safety of the areas under the flyover structure.
caption: Acklam Road was redeveloped as flats following residents' complaints about noise from the Westway.
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