“Stratford City”, the lesser-known twin of the London 2012 Olympic development will completely change the face of East London. In the hands of Westfield (they’ve just opened another huge shopping centre in West London), Stratford will be transformed, providing major retail outlets including John Lewis and Marks and Spencer, hotels, restaurants, as well as a huge new shopping mall. Now, while this is all good news as far as I’m concerned, I am wondering what the impact is likely to be on Leytonstone.

On the one hand, the relatively close proximity of such great new services (not to mention the Olympic Park itself) may make Leytonstone a much more attractive proposition for the discerning property buyer. Whether we’re close enough to feel the full effect of that remains to be seen of course.

On the other hand, along with those great facilities will also come very large investment in new accomodation in the Stratford area, largely modern apartments. Huge developments such as the “Spirit of Stratford” are due to be completed in time for the Olympics, with more (including the athletes village) actually in Stratford City itself.

The meagre retail offerings currently available in Leytonstone could all but disappear once the Stratford juggernaut kicks into gear. Chances are that Woolworths is going to go shortly anyway and I can’t honestly see people being tempted by Matalan, Primark and Shoeworld when major high-street brands will be on tap just two stops away on the tube or 15 minutes down the road by car.

Unless something starts to happen NOW, the landscape of our high street is likely to rapidly change – most likely with many commercial units being converted to residential use. In order to survive as a community, maybe Leytonstone needs to try to offer something different than just shopping (and pretty poor shopping at that) – there needs to be some other incentive for people to come and live here. Unfortunately, despite the best intentions of the council and e11Bid, a few advertising hoardings, solar powered street lights and new bins aren’t going to change that.

For more information about Stratford City, visit the Westfield website: www.westfield.com/stratfordcity.