Roman Road East: which way to town centre renewal?

Reader’s notice from Mike Mitchell, of the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum:

Recent years have seen a series of initiatives aimed at reversing the decline in the local economy and public spaces of the Roman Road East District Centre. Programmes have generally been short-term and piecemeal. The preparation of a revised Local Plan provides an opportunity to explore a different approach to revitalising our town centre – a long-term, evidence-based approach involving partnership work with a coalition of the willing.

Policy abounds!

The National Planning Policy Framework (Paragraphs 86-91) seeks to ‘promote their long-term vitality and viability – by allowing them to grow and diversify in a way that can respond to rapid changes in the retail and leisure industries, allows a suitable mix of uses (including housing) and reflects their distinctive characters;’

The London Plan 2021 (Policy SD6) and the existing Local Plan also seek the revitalisation of our town centres. In the current Local Plan the role of district centres is described as to ‘promote as vibrant hubs containing a wide range of shops, services and employment’. Plan policies seek to protect retail, and support cafés, restaurants, drinking establishments and the night-time economy. Development proposals impacting existing markets will only be supported where they demonstrate that the overall quality of the market and public realm will be improved, the capacity for existing numbers of pitches is maintained and they protect or re-provide appropriate storage and servicing facilities.

The Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Plan supports greater flexibility in the way business premises are used. The introduction of the single class E for businesses means that shops can be converted to restaurants or offices without the need for planning permission.  The plan’s Policy LE1: ‘Encouraging flexible use of premises’ strongly supports ‘proposals to deliver class E uses that are capable of supporting maker spaces, cultural or leisure activities and social enterprises.’

The challenges of a Roman Road in transition

To the west of St. Stephen’s Road, the Victorian terraced housing of Driffield Road and Medway Road conservation areas dominates. The growing number of loft and mansard roof extensions signals the upward aspirations of families and their wish to remain in Bow long-term.

The Council’s Central Area Good Growth document highlights the contrast with the area to the East of St. Stephen’s Road: ‘Although there is no visible spatial barrier, there is a clear split between this part of Bow and the eastern side, where post-war estates of different kinds, from 22-storey towers to 3-4-storey deck-access blocks, are the predominant features of the townscape. Several estates are a result of clearance programmes or bomb-damaged terraces. Close to Victoria Park, facing Hertford Union Canal, there are former 20^th Century industrial buildings converted into residential and mixed uses.’

These differences in housing and social background have contributed to the feeling among working class residents that traditional East End culture is threatened. This was shown in the divisions over the Liveable Streets programme which sought to tackle the heavy volume of commuter traffic passing through Bow to and from the A12. In a consultation community workshop ‘there was overall support for improving the appearance of public space across Bow as well as creating more pedestrians and cycle spaces. A trend of negative responses to several of the traffic management interventions was also recorded’ (2.7 Key Feedback, p.5). Local businesses and traders also expressed concerns over the proposed pedestrianisation of Roman Road, and business access for deliveries and customers (Liveable Streets Co-Design Workshop Report Bow).

Street Market Forces

The challenges of adapting to the changes of gentrification, the Stratford Westfield shopping centre and growth in online shopping, are keenly felt by market traders.

The Markets Team introduced measures to help street markets to recover from the Covid pandemic, but the Roman Road Market continues to struggle. The Roman Road Market Action Plan  highlighted some of the challenges: ‘The Tower Hamlets High Streets & Town Centres Strategy 2017 – 2022 identified the market as having limited customer facilities, issues with antisocial behaviour and graffiti, waste management, cleanliness of the area and a poorly maintained public realm. Some of these issues have been resolved and others remain…’

Other challenges cited mention the changing demographics of the area: ‘Roman Road is a street of two parts with the market area remaining relatively unchanged over the years whilst the western end has changed a great deal with an influx of coffee shops, estate agents and high-quality grocery stores. There appears to be little link between the two ends of the street with different customers using each.’

The recurring issue of parking is a lightning-rod for these divergent views : ‘Traders are struggling on Roman Road; colloquially, a lot of the custom is from traditional east end residents who have moved out of the area and now travel in by car. For this reason, traders consider parking to be a problem for themselves and customers. Despite this, 81% of shoppers surveyed said they walked to the market with only 19% driving, though this was during the pandemic and extended congestion charge hours.’

A sobering comment in the action plan is: ‘The area has changed a great deal in the last 10 years, but the market has not changed with it, despite its customer base moving out of the area. This is one of the reasons why the market is Identified by the council as being one of the most at-risk markets in the borough.’

The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry

The national economic context is tough, with the recent pandemic and ongoing war in Ukraine providing a bleak backdrop. The previous Labour administration and councillors worked hard to address some of the area’s underlying issues. These initiatives tended to be short-term, and either didn’t win the support of key local stakeholders, or ran into political opposition. The Liveable Streets programme experienced both, leading to angry exchanges rather than collaborative partnership, and was cut short following the election of the Aspire council in 2022. Mayor Lutfar Rahman’s manifesto commitment was clear: ‘I will reverse the botched Liveable Streets road closures while implementing a bold programme to go green.’

Another Council attempt to address the revitalising of the market was the commissioning of a report by Sustrans,  ‘Roman Road Market’ (December 2021). The report focused on the market area of Roman Road, and included historical research, business surveys and an analysis of the urban context. This analysis includes the observation that: ‘With pedestrians pushed to the narrow footways and the streetscape being populated by parked cars and a clear run for vehicles, the environment detracts itself from a people friendly space.’

The report continued with a section of best practices from other settings and a sketch design for a new road layout: ‘This design aims to resolve the issues identified in the analysis and engagement section of the report and creates a more pedestrian priority streetscape.’ It suggested reducing the width of the carriageway and creating widened footways. ‘New flexible spaces can be used as market stall sites on market days and also spill out space for shops with temporary seating.’

It required a freedom of information request to obtain a copy of the report, and the pandemic and 2022 local elections ensured that no action resulted. A written question was submitted at the Tower Hamlets Full Council Meeting (18/01/2023) about action being taken to revitalise Roman Road market and the local high street. The reply focused on the improvements to the Globe Town market square, and only reference to Roman Road East was the free parking spaces for one hour introduced for all street markets in February 2023.

It’s not all doom and gloom!

The Roman Road area has significant strengths. These include its rich history, the continuing strong sense of community, active local councillors and community groups, and a determined entrepreneurial spirit among its many small business owners. Long established family businesses provide stability, whilst new enterprises meet some of the changing needs of local residents.

The street market currently helps meet the day-to-day needs of many people, especially  those with modest disposable income. It doesn’t however attract many of the more affluent, and there is little to draw the large numbers of new residents in Fish Island and Hackney Wick across the bridge at Crown Close to Old Ford and the Roman Road.

Valuable work continues to promote sustainable development in Bow by local community groups such as the Roman Road Trust, a grassroots organisation helping regenerate the Roman Road and surrounding area. The Trust has secured funding for the Common Room, a space just off the Roman Road for the local community to meet, exchange knowledge and share skills. The Trust also promotes businesses along the Roman Road, and is working with Queen Mary University to create a renewed, digital Bow Heritage Trail.

The Roman Road London, the neighbourhood news and culture magazine, continues its strong tradition of sharing positive stories about the area, championing local businesses and exploring local issues from a community perspective. Following the adoption of the neighbourhood plan in November 2022, the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum seeks to work with all stakeholders to achieve a thriving high street and local economy.

The importance of securing public and private investment

In these financially constrained times, collaborative partnership working across public, private and community sectors is essential if substantial new investment for the area is to be secured.

Bow has not benefited from investment in the public realm compared to some other district centres. The Whitechapel Road Improvement Programme led by the Regeneration Team is benefitting from £9.3 million of government funding.  The Chrisp Street Regeneration scheme by developers Telford Homes to provide around 600 new homes, a cinema, cafés and restaurants, offices and dozens of new shops will cost over £300 million.

Smaller projects have also benefitted elsewhere from Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy funding, such as the Leydon Street Toilets Refurbishment, which is also creating a new space for a commercial tenant and is managed by the High Streets Team. This project is part of the Middlesex Street Regeneration programme, with £90,000 of funding for Wentworth St. from Historic England through the High Street heritage Action Zone programme.

These and other schemes are all welcome, but spotlight the lack of comparable investment in the Roman Road East District Centre.

New Local Plan – an opportunity for strategic change at risk?

The Council consulted in early 2023 over updating the current Local Plan. The Council then announced on its website that: ‘As part of the development of the new Local Plan, NEMS Market Research Ltd will be carrying out telephone surveys on behalf of the Council. The purpose of these surveys is to understand:

• how residents and visitors are using the borough’s town centres
• how the borough’s town centres can be enhanced’

Why is money being spent on telephone surveys with a market research company, rather than serious engagement with the local community? To misquote a Bob Dylan song – ‘How many times will they pay a consultant’s fee, and pretend that they just don’t see?’

The issues described above are long-standing. Many are well documented, and will not be resolved for the Roman Road or other district centres by yet another survey.

The importance of a long-term strategic approach

A long-term strategy for the area is needed. This will involve joined-up thinking and acting, drawing on the substantial evidence of past reports, and involving engagement with all the parties concerned for the future of Bow.

The Council is well place to spearhead strategic change, working in a coordinated way across areas such as planning, regeneration, high streets and markets, together with external bodies such as national government, the GLA and TfL and the local community.

There is plenty of help available. The Local Government Association (LGA) offers such a long-term sustained approach to revitalising town centres. It provides practical guidance through its framework and recently updated toolkit:

Councillor Martin Tett, Chair of the LGA’s Economy, Environment, Housing and Transport Board: ‘Part of the response to town centre revitalisation requires big thinking – avoiding the traps of having a narrow focus on retail, one particular street or block or single issues such as parking, anti-social behaviour or business rates. Town centre success requires a multitude of factors to be successful. Many town centres are finding a new purpose – a rebalancing of the functions they serve including employment, commercial, leisure, community, housing, healthcare and educational uses.’  ‘Leading a town centre revival’ (p.4, handbook for council leadership).

The LGA website, Revitalising Town Centres, argues that: ‘Town and city centres face long-term issues that merit sophisticated and sustained solutions that create new understanding of inter-related issues and cooperation between different sectors and partners in developing solutions.

Councils and their leaders are in a position to take a broad perspective and bring different interests together in a way that those championing single issues cannot. Local authorities can take a leading role or be important partners in sustaining communities through town centre revitalisation.’

The choice

This letter makes the case for a long-term, joined-up approach to town centre revitalisation. By briefly reviewing existing local town centre policies and initiatives, and citing some evidence from recent plans and reports, it has sought to show a serious and sustained commitment is needed if the decline in our town centre is to be reversed.

The updating of the Local Plan provides an opportunity for a fresh approach. It will involve determined and sustained, evidence-based work, but offers much more than surveys and other short-term, fragmented initiatives nibbling around the edge of longstanding, complex issues.

The Council’s four-year strategic plan for 2022-26 does offers a list of eight priorities and headline measures. Number eight is: ‘being a council that listens and works for everyone.’ The local community is willing to engage, but we need so much more than a market research company at the other end of the phone. The local community is willing to engage with the Council. Is the Council serious about working with the community toward a long-term strategic approach to a Roman Road revival?