Royal Docks Enterprise Zone Programme Board

Date of meeting: 3 March 2021

Title of report: North Woolwich Road

To be presented by: Paul Creed, Head of Development & Placemaking

Cleared by: Rickardo Hyatt, Executive Director – Housing and Land, GLA; and Dave Hughes, Corporate Director of Inclusive Economy and Housing, LBN

Classification: Public with reserved appendix (commercially sensitive information)

1 Executive Summary 1.1 The North Woolwich Road corridor runs from Canning Town to City Airport and includes strategic employment and housing sites along that route. 1.2 The Delivery Plan highlights that the North Woolwich Road corridor will be subject to major changes in the coming years. Confirmed land use designations in the LB Newham (LBN) Local Plan and the draft London Plan will see major industrial, commercial and residential development alongside the existing businesses and residents. 1.3 The Royal Docks Team (RDT) has been working with the LBN Highways team to design and consult on the new design that will give more space to cyclist, pedestrians and for landscaping. The next phase of the project is to invest in detailed design, undertake utility diversions and complete pre-construction works. This paper seeks approval for £3,500,000 to cover professional fees to progress the project and accelerated works to support interim and permanent infrastructure improvements to support City Hall relocation.

2 Recommendation 2.1 It is recommended that the EZ Programme Board endorse the business case of up to £3,500,000 additional investment from the Connectivity budget to continue delivering the North Woolwich Road project.

3 Introduction and Background 3.1 To accommodate the growth along North Woolwich Road, to support existing users and to ensure compliance with the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy,

the North Woolwich Road needs to be redesigned and measures employed to improve safety, encourage and facilitate more walking and cycling and reduce speeds. This needs to be done whilst protecting existing and proposed industrial access and capacity for future development. 3.2 The RDT has been working with stakeholders along the corridor, TfL and LBN to scope out the nature of the redesign needed. The next stage is to move to detailed design, in partnership with the stakeholders to get a set of proposals ready for a main funding decision by the LEAP Board next year.

4 Issues for consideration 4.1 This paper seeks approval for £3,500,000 of investment to cover: a. Detailed highways design – undertaking the detailed design in preparation for approvals and tendering; c£200,000; b. Utility diversion works – moving key utilities to their new position to enable the main works to start; c£2,000,000; c. Pre-construction work – establishing works compounds and detailed phasing and construction plans; c£200,000; d. Traffic signal equipment – purchasing the equipment for the new layout and design; c£600,000; and e. Accelerated works to support interim and permanent infrastructure improvements including for cycling and walking, to align with the relocation of City Hall and capture regeneration benefits arising; c£500,000. 4.2 The landscape design will have a link to the Place Strategy work that is being done to help redesign other public spaces in the Royal Docks. The landscape design for North Woolwich Road will therefore be designed in compliance with that strategy to ensure consistency and efficiency. 4.3 The RDT investment will be in addition to existing LBN investment of Section 106 developer contributions. The management of the project is joint between the RDT and LBN Highways with support from TfL.

5 Equality comments 5.1 The proposed investment is in a highways and landscape design project and this will be designed in the LBN process that meets the requirements for Equality Act assessment.

6 Risks arising / mitigation 6.1 The main risk to this project is that without the specialist advise and consultancy support, the projects won’t be able to proceed, the further funding decisions won’t be possible and there will be a delay in the benefit to the EZ. 6.2 The risks around coordination and resourcing are being mitigated by joint working groups between LBN Highways and the RDT and through the secondment of a member of the Highways Team to the RDT.

7 Financial Comments of the Executive Director Resources 7.1 There is provision in the 2021-22 Delivery Plan budget for the business case proposal of up to £3.5 million of expenditure, split £3.0 million capital and £0.5 million revenue. However, this will require an addition to the Connectivity strand of the capital budget. This change will need to be managed within the total Delivery Plan capital budget for the year. The £3.5 million proposal would bring total approved expenditure on the project up to £4.96 million. 7.2 Funding provided to LBN for works it delivers as part of this project will be capped at a maximum amount in a grant agreement to be put in place with the Council. Newham would therefore be bearing the risk of cost overruns.

8 Next steps 8.1 The next steps are summarised below: Activity Timeline GLA Director Decision Feb 2021 EZ Programme Board decision Mar 2021 Commencement of delivery of accelerated enhancements April 2021 Funding Agreement with LBN May 2021 Delivery of phase 1 commences July 2021 Phase 1 completed Sept 2021 Completion of whole scheme works (indicative) 2024

Appendices:  Appendix A – Business Case (RESERVED)