Calls to move Stratford into Underground Zone 2/3

Planned engineering work could affect your journeys this weekend. PA Archive/Press Association Images

Stratford should be moved from Underground Zone 3 to Zone 2/3 to maximise the Olympic legacy and improve perceptions of the area, according to a new report.

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Go East: Unlocking the potential of the Thames Estuary, calls on Mayor Boris Johnson to “take symbolic action to redraw London’s transport map and close the gap between central and east London”.

The report, by think tank Centre for London and co-edited by shadow infrastructure minister Andrew Adonis, notes that stations which are of similar distance to central London as Stratford, including North Greenwich and Willesden Green, are in Zone 2 or Zone 2/3, as well as Pudding Mill Lane station which is only about 200 metres from Stratford regional station.

David Leam, who wrote the chapter considering East London transport links, states that although changing the Underground map boundary would cost about £5m this is likely to be offset by an increase in visitors.

Jamie Hodge, of the Stratford Renaissance Partnership, says the group has backed moving Stratford from Zone 3 to Zone 2/3 for several years.

He says changing the transport map boundary is likely to benefit residents, who would receive reduced travel costs, as well as encouraging further investment in the area.

“The perception is that Stratford is a little bit further out than it actually is,” he said. “If it was in Zone 2 it would attract big businesses to the area which might otherwise settle in places like Canary Wharf.

“The reality is that it is not going to happen overnight so we need to keep making a case. The more people who are talking about it, the more likely that there is a possibility that something will happen.”

Newham Council and the London Legacy Development Corporation have also supported the idea of moving Stratford to Zone 2/3.