Western Road and Mercury Gardens Collision Reduction Programme - Proposed Safety Improvements 

Overview

Havering Council is looking for your views on a proposed safety improvement scheme for Western Road and Mercury Gardens.

It follows a feasibility study that was carried out and found that up to 800 vehicles per hour use Western Road with speeds of up to 40 mph regularly recorded. Further analysis of collision records showed that there has been a total of fourteen personal injury accidents (PIAs), recorded along Western Road over a five-year period. Of these fourteen PIAs, three were serious; four involved pedestrians, two occurred in wet conditions and two occurred during the hours of darkness.

With funding being provided by the Mayor of London’s Transport for London office (TfL), we can now look at a proposed scheme which includes the following and can be viewed on the plans below:

• • A new zebra crossing together with the relocation of an advertisement board at the South Street/Western Road Junction. South Street is a main shopping street in Romford Town Centre. Heavy pedestrian movements are observed at this location due to a preferred route for pedestrians along South Street towards Romford Railway Station.
  • ‘Look both sides’ road markings at the existing pelican crossing to warn pedestrians about the direction of vehicle movements.
  • A staggered pelican crossing in Mercury Gardens north of Western Road to assist pedestrians to cross Romford Ring Road. It is observed that a significant number of pedestrians are crossing in the area.
  • A new zebra crossing along Western Road east of Mercury Gardens to assist pedestrians. A significant number of pedestrians are crossing the carriageway at this location.

Large scale plans can also be seen on the Council website -

https://consultation.havering.gov.uk/highways/

Any person desiring to object to the proposals or make other representation should send a statement in writing and the grounds thereof to Senior Schemes Engineer, Traffic and Parking, Town Hall, Main Road, Romford, RM1 3BB, or by email at schemes@havering.gov.uk, stating reference number QX018, by Friday 3 July 2026.

Please note we are unable to answer individual points raised at this stage, however your comments will be noted and taken into consideration when presenting the final report to the Council’s Director for Environment.  Any issues will be addressed at that time.