In message , Tom Barry
writes

Westway's an interesting one - it was clearly massively destructive of
an established community, but also built and designed to very high
standards.

At the time (and I lived in the area then) it's real significance was as
a potential prelude to the destruction of huge swathes of housing for
the London motorway box. As a youngster living in West Kensington and
owning a car, it first seemed wonderful - but it very quickly became
obvious that the country couldn't afford schemes on that scale.

What was not realised back then was that much 19th-century housing in
the central area could be upgraded to very acceptable modern standards -
instead there was a presumption that people would be happier in the
outer suburbs - an idea that totally collapsed when rising oil and
transport costs made suburban living far less economic for those with
jobs in town.
--
Paul Terry