Westway Sports Centre and Gardens

Western Avenue had been constructed between 1920 and 1943, a 12 mile route from White City Stadium to Denham that was designed to take traffic quickly out of London to the west, but after WWII the volume of traffic led to severe road congestion. To alleviate this the decision was taken to build an elevated extension of 2.5 miles, which became known as Westway. Site clearance took place along its route from 1964 and it opened in July 1970, a huge success in terms of traffic management and engineering but devastating to the communities it had bulldozed through. After much local protest by groups such as North Kensington Playspace Group, and a consolidated campaign, Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Greater London Council finally agreed to hand over the land under the motorway flyover for community use. The North Kensington Amenity Trust was formally set up in February 1971 to work in partnership with the Council to develop the derelict land sensitive to the needs of the local community, now known as Westway Development Trust. Over 3,000 shrubs and 500 trees have been planted, and there are 10 acres of public open space, including a nursery and greenhouse where plants are grown. A scented garden at Blossom Dale provides a space for local pensioners with winter flowering jasmine and honeysuckle, magnolias and narcissi in spring and roses and mock orange in summer. A wildlife area provides a resource for local schools, with a pond life and wildlife habitats. The Trust gardens and open spaces are also used for annual events such as the Notting Hill Carnival. Sports and recreation take up around a third of the land, and the Westway Sports Centre opened in 2001. Over 20 community groups have space on Trust land, their rent subsidised by commercial letting.