Walk the Olympic Park (5) Waterden Road 28 photographs here
In contrast to the myriad routeways through the bottom half of the Olympic Park, there's only one up top. Waterden Road runs due north between the two main channels of the River Lea, with a swathe of mostly brownfield land to either side. It ought to be a major cut-through for cars and lorries but instead it's used almost exclusively by local traffic. At its southern tip the road curves and humps over the North London railway line, before stuttering to a pause at a set of totally unnecessary traffic lights. These have been erected in preparation for the opening of StratfordInternational station, connected via a brand new link road which glides on concrete stilts across the river valley. Except that the station hasn't opened yet (and won't for years), so this virgin carriageway runs slap bang into a metal barrier, wasted and abandoned amidst a future Olympic construction site. Highway chiefs have at least now switched off the utterly pointless pelican crossing, but it was fun stopping the non-existent traffic while it lasted.
Stand around here at 5pm on a weekday and you can watch a steady stream of workers heading home from one of Waterden Road's many non-premium businesses. They file off towards the railway station at Hackney Wick, or walk the long way home to Homerton. They'll be back for their next shift soon enough, or maybe sooner if they plan to frequent any of the local evangelical churches, dodgy nightclubs or cheap dining establishments. The biggest employers down Waterden Road are the bus companies. There are three large bus garages here altogether, currently home to hundreds of double deckers, scores of bendy buses and a handful of heritage Routemasters. All are utterly crucial to East London's transport infrastructure. The ODA won't be able to lock off this road for good until all three garages have been relocated elsewhere, and for the time being various alternative sites in West Ham and Bow are still at the planning stage.
For a peek somewhere special, follow the side alley round the back of First's bus garage. If the gate's unlocked, and nobody's looking, you might be able to cross the footbridge into the green oasis of the Manor Garden allotments. Here generations of Hackneyfolk have cultivated treasuredplots of land, bringing forth vegetables and flowers (and even more vegetables). The 80 allotments run for more than quarter of a mile altogether, sandwiched in a thin strip of land between two rivers, and perched high enough up to afford a fine view over the surrounding valley. Most of the sheds and gardening equipment have seen better days, and none of the plots would ever grace the Chelsea Flower Show, but that's part of the charm of the place. Even when there's nobody around you can feel a very real sense of community in the air - this is somewhere to relax as well as to grow. But the Olympics are cutting short the final summer season, and the few remaining tenants are being allowed to hang around just long enough to gather in their last harvest. As dusk falls across this unique eco-friendly environment, I fear the temporary replacement allotments over in Leyton will be a wholly inadequate substitute.
Last Sunday lunchtime, back on Waterden Road, I watched a slow-moving procession bringing pre-Olympic closure one step further forward. A bright yellow JCB pulled up beside a lorry parked at the southern traffic lights and raised a single metal gate into the air. Workmen in fluorescent jackets used Stop/Go signs to halt the infrequent traffic and the JCB started to make its way gradually, cautiously, up to the northern end of the road. The gate dangled precariously in mid air, the driver taking particular care beneath low slung wires and cables, until the convoy reached a pair of sturdy steel posts recently bashed in beside the East London bus garage. Here the workmen proceeded to lower the hinges carefully into position, half blocking the road, before returning to fetch a matching gate for the opposite post.
These Olympic Park gates have been carefully sited to block off almost all of Waterden Road, but still to leave access to the Travellers site at Waterden Crescent and also the car park at the Kingsway International Christian Centre. The KICC has one of the largest weekly congregations in the UK, and several thousand Afro-Caribbean worshippers were packed inside their vast warehouse church while the gate-laying ceremony took place outside. This site is earmarked for the Olympic Hockey Stadium, and the church is hoping to relocate to a new riverside estate in Havering (if Havering will have them). But, however fervent their Sunday prayers, there'll be no Second Coming here. A five year lock-in is on its way.
Walk the Olympic Park (5)
In contrast to the myriad routeways through the bottom half of the Olympic Park, there's only one up top. Waterden Road runs due north between the two main channels of the River Lea, with a swathe of mostly brownfield land to either side. It ought to be a major cut-through for cars and lorries but instead it's used almost exclusively by local traffic. At its southern tip the road curves and humps over the North London railway line, before stuttering to a pause at a set of totally unnecessary traffic lights. These have been erected in preparation for the opening of Stratford International station, connected via a brand new link road which glides on concrete stilts across the river valley. Except that the station hasn't opened yet (and won't for years), so this virgin carriageway runs slap bang into a metal barrier, wasted and abandoned amidst a future Olympic construction site. Highway chiefs have at least now switched off the utterly pointless pelican crossing, but it was fun stopping the non-existent traffic while it lasted.
For a peek somewhere special, follow the side alley round the back of First's bus garage. If the gate's unlocked, and nobody's looking, you might be able to cross the footbridge into the green oasis of the Manor Garden allotments. Here generations of Hackneyfolk have cultivated treasured plots of land, bringing forth vegetables and flowers (and even more vegetables). The 80 allotments run for more than quarter of a mile altogether, sandwiched in a thin strip of land between two rivers, and perched high enough up to afford a fine view over the surrounding valley. Most of the sheds and gardening equipment have seen better days, and none of the plots would ever grace the Chelsea Flower Show, but that's part of the charm of the place. Even when there's nobody around you can feel a very real sense of community in the air - this is somewhere to relax as well as to grow. But the Olympics are cutting short the final summer season, and the few remaining tenants are being allowed to hang around just long enough to gather in their last harvest. As dusk falls across this unique eco-friendly environment, I fear the temporary replacement allotments over in Leyton will be a wholly inadequate substitute.
Last Sunday lunchtime, back on Waterden Road, I watched a slow-moving procession bringing pre-Olympic closure one step further forward. A bright yellow JCB pulled up beside a lorry parked at the southern traffic lights and raised a single metal gate into the air. Workmen in fluorescent jackets used Stop/Go signs to halt the infrequent traffic and the JCB started to make its way gradually, cautiously, up to the northern end of the road. The gate dangled precariously in mid air, the driver taking particular care beneath low slung wires and cables, until the convoy reached a pair of sturdy steel posts recently bashed in beside the East London bus garage. Here the workmen proceeded to lower the hinges carefully into position, half blocking the road, before returning to fetch a matching gate for the opposite post.
