Re-Imagining Shepherd's Bush Green

Imagine if Shepherd's Bush Green was a pedestrian area, rather than a giant traffic island. An impossible dream? Not according to architects Henning Stummel, who have made a proposal to pedestrianise the north side of the Common and re-route two-way traffic around the west and south. The proposal is supported by the Hammersmith Society and was included in their most recent newsletter.

A few years ago Shepherd's Bush Green was memorably described by the FT as a "windswept traffic island ringed by kebab joints and mobile phone shops". It's surely not as bad as it was, but it could be much lovelier.

Henning Stummel's plan isn't new. Under the last Tory Council, plans were put forward to pedestrianise the north side of the Green. They got nowhere, probably thanks to opposition from TFL. After all, traffic has to go somewhere.

But there is no doubt that Shepherd's Bush Green would be much more appealing it were not ringed by 3 lanes of traffic on all sides.  The plans are surely something worth talking about and supporting - at least in principle.

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