London’s motorways, the nadir of post-war civil design: poorly planned, poorly executed and still a bane for Transport for London to manage. It’s easy to disparage the motorways and dual carriageways that carve through London’s landscape. But beyond the innocuous purpose of these roads is a layer of inequality – lines that continue to divide communities to this day.
The 1960s were a time of change for London. Increasing car ownership and a decaying road network brought a desperate need for improved infrastructure. The Greater London Council’s solution? The "Ringways" Project: four giant ring roads radiating from the capital’s centre.
The GLC’s plans included bulldozing through areas of Hampstead, Ealing, Tottenham and an undisclosed number of areas in South London. They were met with such hostile opposition that the project was cancelled, but only after construction had already started, leaving only remnants of its many routes.
These remnants continue to be some of the problematic, congested motorways in London. The Marylebone/Paddington flyover, officially Westway, is an obtrusive, monolithic complex of concrete and steel that spans from the east-west ends of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. It is currently beset by structural issues, leaving TfL scrambling to find funding to reduce the risk of collapse.
Over 3,000 people were rehoused for its original construction; residents called for the GLC to “Get us out of this hell!” Today, its reception has not improved. In media it has been used as a site of claustrophobia, riots and generally as representative of any form of British decay. Outside of the driving experience, it has fundamentally changed the communities that surround it.
Westway’s construction divided a homogenous area into one connected only by overarching walkways, sporadic connector roads and, ultimately, the car. That’s not to say that the areas it now spans were particularly affluent or had no social issues, but now a divisive road has split two communities.
It has divided Kensington & Chelsea (K&C) into what is now effectively two boroughs. The local council are notorious for neglecting this divided northern area – Grenfell Tower, which burnt down in 2017 following a catalogue of failures, was under its management, bordering the Westway.
But there is a side that many ignore. Westway has created a melting pot of different cultures, as documented by its exaggerated but nonetheless interesting eponymous radio sitcom. The unusual urban circumstances created by an elevated motorway has strengthened community co-operation and bonds according to a 2024 paper published in Antipode.
Nowhere in London, however, is more clearcut in its divide than Brent. Formed of the unhappy marriage of the former Municipal Boroughs of Willesden and Wembley in 1964, its merger was so controversial that, unlike the majority of other London boroughs undergoing amalgamation, its new name was taken from the River Brent that flows through the centre, seemingly the only neutral choice.
Wembley was more affluent, whereas Willesden was a Labour-supporting area with more renters. Despite being next to each other, the boroughs were only connected by two major roads, a railway line running through the middle and notably the North Circular Road, intended to be part of the same network as the Westway.
Cars were the absolute priority when building the North Circular. Even now there are very few pedestrian crossings—those that exist are often gantry bridges that span over the carriageway. Unlike the community surrounding the Westway, which has somewhat transcended the barrier of the overarching motorway, Brent very much remains two communities with little interaction. Classed in the 8th decile of deprivation (10 being most deprived), it spent a third of its total budget in 2023 on adult social care (£107 million).
Brent’s own councillors describe it as a “borough of two halves”. But, like Westway, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. By creating distinct neighbourhoods Brent has become one of the most diverse boroughs in London, with 85% from ethnic minority groups. Some use this as an argument against the view that there is fundamentally residential segregation in these. Is London “a city of choice or structures” in where people live?
It remains that such residential segregation should not exist in the first place and actively inhibits the growth of such communities. Between 2001 and 2011, the Indian and Pakistani clusters south of the North Circular contracted significantly, whilst other ethnic clusters north of the road expanded northwards and away from it. In Brent, enclaves are becoming more and more separated because of a factor beyond their control.
When built, these roads were convenient but controversial. Now, they have faded into the fabric of London’s jungle of infrastructure, but they continue to play an important role in shaping our communities. They remain the relic of a time of relentless ambition with little regard for the future, a far cry from our modern infrastructure projects. Perhaps, some of that ambition should have remained in check.
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