Council plans to replace flyover with ‘flyunder’ to ease traffic

A West London council is looking to replace a 1960s flyover with a new tunnel as part of its long-term plans for a key town centre, where nearly 3,000 homes would be built. 

Hammersmith and Fulham council details in its Hammersmith Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) how it intends on knocking down the ‘eyesore’ flyover to introduce a ‘flyunder’ in an attempt to improve the townscape and ease traffic.

Plans to replace the flyover have been circulating for years, alongside reworking the gyratory system. But, Richard Farthing, chair of the Hammersmith Society, described the tunnel as ‘more on the wish list’, and said a plan B for the centre is needed.

Due to go before Cabinet next Monday, the SPD, if approved, will add detail to policies already included in the borough-wide Local Plan.

The SPD has been informed by the Hammersmith Regeneration Area Masterplan, completed in 2019, and underwent public consultation earlier this year. The local authority says it received representations from 39 organisations and individuals, amounting to 149 comments. Consultees included Historic England, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL).

A number of ‘key outcomes’ for Hammersmith over the next decade are listed, from enhancing the arts and culture offer to building 2,800 new homes, 50 per cent of which will be ‘genuinely affordable’, and creating 10,000 new jobs.

Perhaps the most eye-catching of the proposals though, is replacing the flyover with a flyunder. This would remove an ‘eyesore and physical barrier’, ‘significantly’ enhance the townscape, lessen the impact of through traffic, and release land for development, the document notes.

A ‘comprehensive’ redevelopment of Hammersmith Broadway is also among the major interventions proposed. Similar to the high-line in New York, the council would look to reactivate the disused railway viaduct, and create a green link from the arches to Beadon Road.

In a separate document, council officers acknowledged one of the main issues raised by residents during consultation was the feasibility of the flyunder.

The SPD also recognises the flyunder would be a ‘long-term project’, with the total cost estimated at £811million.

Other key sites identified in the SPD include the new Civic Campus and Town Hall, on which work has begun, and King Street, which the council is eyeing-up to reconfigure in a bid to improve the public realm.

Mr Farthing said that the Hammersmith Society welcomes the SPD as a way to move the town centre forward, and that it has made a range of detailed comments.

Cabinet members have been recommended to approve the SPD for adoption, incorporating amendments following the consultation. If adopted. It will then be published on the council’s website, with a statement also sent to the Secretary of State.