New attraction in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park expected to attract extra 60,000 visitors per year, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

The Orbit zipwire plans (credit Atelier Ellis Architects)

Plans to run a zipline from the ArcellorMittal Orbit tower in the Olympic Park are set to be considered by councillors next week.

ZipWorld, which operates the tower, wants planning permission for the wire from both Tower Hamlets and Newham councils.

Plans say the zipline would “offer a unique and exhilarating experience” for a predicted 60,000 extra visitors a year.

According to plans, the slide would launch from the tower on the Newham side of the border, but cross the boundary into Tower Hamlets on the other side of the River Lea, where a new structure would be built.

Plans submitted to both councils also say that ZipWorld plans to install a “gravity descender” attraction on the tower, and that a separate planning application for this would follow.

Councillors in Newham are set to consider the plans at a strategic development committee next Thursday (23rd).

Council officers recommend that they approve the launch platform. They say that as the platform would be attached near the top of the existing tower it wouldn’t impact the openness of the Metropolitan Open Land.

The officers’ report says Transport for London asked that the council demand ZipWorld contributes £20,000 towards new “Legible London” signage – such as street maps – as part of the planning agreement.

However, it says that as the Orbit is an existing structure, it doesn’t need new signage.

It also says that the increase of 60,000 visitors a year would be “insignificant” in the context of the 80,000 people who use Stratford Station daily.

The officers’ report says this means the council couldn’t impose this obligation on ZipWorld.

Tower Hamlets councillors are set to consider a planning application for the return tower by Marshgate Way at a strategic development committee next Wednesday (22nd).

A planning officers’ report says the new tower would be just under 39 metres high. Riders would not disembark in the borough but would instead be returned to the Orbit in Newham.

Planning officers say they don’t consider the return tower to have an impact on protected Metropolitan Open Land, and are recommending that councillors vote to approve it.

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