Part 1: Introducing Ward 5
Cedric writes
Welcome once again to The 14 Wards of London, Ontario, where we are continuing our journey through London’s wards in this summer series. We are back in the north end to bring you a Ward that has shifted boundaries, but is largely in the same place as usual. Welcome to Ward 5.
Ward 5 contains places like Sunningdale, Uplands, Masonville, and parts of Medway and Stoneybrook.
In the middle of three of these districts, is one of London’s most travelled intersections, Richmond Street at Fanshawe Park Road. This is where Fanshawe Park Road is bisected into west and east halves. Prior to 1998, when a substantial amount of Ontario’s provincial highway network was downloaded to the municipal level, the intersection was also the intersection of Highway 4 and Highway 22. Historically, the intersection was nicknamed Calamity Corners, due to a purportedly disproportionate amount of traffic collisions in the then-London Township. The name lives on in Google Maps.
You may be familiar with this ward if you’ve visited Masonville Place to shop or switch buses. Western University also stretches into Ward 5 with its Research Park at Collip Circle. Medway Valley Heritage Forest is located in the eastern edge of the Ward, which has a sprawling trail system along the creek of the same name.
Transit is only good if you’re going between Western University and Masonville Place. There are multiple express routes that start or end at Masonville. Since 2019, Route 34 has circulated around the entire ward every 40 minutes during most of the day, much like a lasso. London also missed the opportunity to build rapid transit to the north end of the city. Only now is there some support for an alternate corridor; this year, the local Chamber of Commerce announced its support for the North Corridor.
When I started cycling as a teen, I relied on protected bike lanes along Adelaide Street and Fanshawe Park Road in the ward. It communicated to me that cycling was a suburban affair, owing to all of the in-boulevard bike lanes along arterial roads.
The area is a very affluent one. The Sunningdale and Uplands districts often have home sales that crack seven figures. (as in, more than $1 million!) They also contain higher proportions of visible minorities than the other districts in this ward.
The ward contains a lot of the old part of the areas that were annexed in 1961. It also contains a reminder that Fanshawe Park Road was a part of Highway 22, with very old single-storey houses lining the road. And it also has many of London’s newest subdivisions. One affluent ward, many traditions. I’ve always been wondering: how do the people of Ward 5 live together?
That’s our challenge this summer: the story of London Ontario in 14 wards. Join us. We’re going by bike and by car, and we’re inviting Londoners into the conversation.
Cedric says:
Hello all, it’s Cedric Richards, your City Editor for The Loon! For this little podcast with an article, I braved the rain on my bicycle, coming to Masonville Place through the Thames Valley Parkway and Western Road. Let’s take a look at Ward 5, and the *North Centre* of it all.
Mike says:
This has been another educational journey through a part of London, learning that Ward 5 is much more than just a mall, although the scale of north London’s development is perhaps an eye-opener. And, as our podcast shows, it’s another great experience discovering it with help from Cedric!
Every week, we’re having a chat in the ward itself. Here are our musings together in Ward 5, where Cedric arrived by bicycle and Mike arrived with a large umbrella.
Ward 5: the Basics
Ward 5 - Sunningdale, Masonville, Uplands, Stoneybrook, Medway
Population - 39,051
Cedric writes
Ward 5 has always been London’s ward in the centre of the north end, centering on Stoneybrook and Stoney Creek, with parts of Masonville. It was created in 2006 from the former Ward 2.
The redrawing of Ward 7 had some ripple effects elsewhere; its portion east of Wonderland Road North was transferred to Ward 5. This effectively redrew Ward 7 Councillor Corinne Rahman’s residence into Ward 5, where she opted to run after Jerry Pribil decided not to reoffer for 2026.
The portion between Adelaide and Highbury was traversed to Wards 3 and 4.
Part 2: Around the ward
Sunningdale
Cedric writes
Sunningdale is home to the namesake golf course, located between Richmond Street and Wonderland Road. It was named after a golf course near London, England. In turn, the name has been lent to the concession road it resides on and the planning district. Sunningdale Road first became a part of the City of London in 1993, when the city completed a major annexation on all sides of it. The golf course opened in 1934, changing over the decades to fit the needs of its members. The most recent change was to cede six holes to a developer who proposed to build medium density housing at the corner of Sunningdale and Wonderland. The golf course made up the changes elsewhere, referring to the creation of six new holes as “the NEW SUNNINGDALE”.
The district is also home to a neighbourhood named Richmond Hill, branching from the west side of Richmond. I do wonder if the municipality north of Toronto has ever considered it gimmick infringement. It is also home to a walkable neighbourhood called Upper Richmond Village, complete with customized street signs bearing the neighbourhood’s name.
I have always liked the central park located along Villagewalk Boulevard, which is nicknamed the Commons. It should give our city pause that we like naming subdivisions “villages”. Meanwhile, they border the city’s busiest roads.
And speaking of busy roads, the mass downloading of Ontario’s highways affected this area. Highway 4 through London was largely unsigned from 1998 to 2018. In the latter year, Highway 4 was officially rerouted from Richmond Street in the north end to a new route of Wonderland, Sunningdale, and Richmond.
Uplands
Cedric writes
Uplands contains one of the ward’s oldest subdivisions in Northcrest. Northcrest is located inside of the southeast corner of Richmond and Sunningdale. Seeing it on an old map from 1958 was a bit odd. The map had a conceptual routing of what Highway 402 could have been; it would have shifted the city’s center of gravity northward.
North of Sunningdale, the newer developments continue up to the city limits. The most notable of them all is Applewood Marketplace, located around Appletree Gate and Kleinburg Drive. This was interesting in every sense of the word. The first time that I heard about it was more than a decade ago when The London Plan - the city’s draft official plan was going through the wringer and several revisions. The plan zoned certain segments of streets as Main Streets. The usual ones like Wortley Village, Byron, Hyde Park, and Lambeth were there. But this one stood out to me, and not unlike a sore thumb. There was something zoned for a main street near Sunningdale and Adelaide. The plan was, apparently, to create a walkable, mixed-use community along a new street named Appletree Gate. There were barns that were still standing that would be incorporated into this community. Construction stalled around 2022, as the original developer went into receivership. It resumed in 2023, with a new developer buying the assets of the development. One mixed use apartment building has since opened with tenants on the ground floor, fronting Kleinburg Drive.
Masonville
Cedric writes
You can’t talk about Masonville without the mall. The mall, Masonville Place, opened in August 1985, and no matter how old you are, you’ve seen the satellite photos of the mall’s early years, where not much was surrounding the mall. You also may not be a true Londoner if you haven’t reminisced about the mall’s former indoor mini-golf course in a nostalgia-oriented Facebook group. The mall has expanded in size over the years, switching out tenants like the Loblaws, adding in Silver City, and replacing the Zellers with a Rec Room. More recently, the Hudson’s Bay closed after more than two decades in its current space. White Oaks found a replacement for their former Hudson’s Bay space, so it’s your move, Masonville.
But there’s an area beyond the mall. The library on North Centre Road is a great place to read and study. It opened in 1995, having moved from Broughdale.
Farther away from the commercial area are neighbourhoods that people live in. One interesting piece of this area is how many streets take their names from place names in Scotland. Perhaps Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney may make a state visit to this neighbourhood someday?
Stoneybrook
Cedric writes
This neighbourhood is split in half by London’s favourite dividing line, Adelaide Street North. West of Adelaide, this district contains Stoneybrook Public School, Hastings Park, and the Church of St. Jude.
The area is not immune to growth pressures that we have seen in other parts of the city. Multiple higher density proposals have seen near-universal scepticism or concern or opposition by the neighbourhood, and the area councillor. I remember the debate over 420 Fanshawe Park Road East more than 15 years ago. Months ago, a proposal on 547 Elmdale Avenue to create a combined total of 32 buildings on two lots led to Councillors Corinne Rahman and Shawn Lewis to push to close a perceived loophole on a zoning bylaw that permitted 4 units per lot, “as of right”. These days, the most contentious proposal is of the lots located at the southeast corner of Geary Avenue and Fanshawe Park Road East.
Many criticisms often involve the question of what is missing from consultations. But I can tell you what is missing definitively from these consultations: future Londoners and their needs. Many people want to live in London. How can we fit them in the city as our future neighbors? I think we should give ourselves the opportunity to reframe the debate that way.
Medway
Cedric writes
Medway in Ward 5 consists of everything east of Wonderland Road. Not much of this district will be in the new Ward 5 besides the heritage forest. There are bits of two subdivisions that lie east of Wonderland, however. The Museum of Ontario Archaeology is located at the end of Attawandaron Road. Elsewhere, the end of Gainsborough Road becomes Whiteacres Drive. Within that subdivision, there is a stately large house called Woodholme. Prince Philip once stayed over at the house in 1984. Once located on Wonderland Road North, the building of subdivisions has relocated the house to a new street named Delacourt Road.
Part 3: Politics of Ward 5
Mike writes
2022 results
2018 results
2014 results
This ward has been a battleground in the past, notably the controversy related to Maureen Cassidy’s challenger Randy Warden, who was eventually fined under the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, but 2026 is looking much simpler. It’s been mentioned repeatedly and is clearly the biggest political issue in Ward 5: there is a sitting councillor who, despite not being the actual, official incumbent, has lived here for years and is the leading candidate with strong local recognition. All of this is a combination of a quirk of boundaries and a confident approach by a sitting councillor.
So Corrine Rahman, Ward 7 representative, is running in Ward 5 this time because the line moved on the map. She has opponents in Abid Raza and Mary Blake Rose, and is clearly the dominant voice here, having canvassed her neighbours before, whatever name the area had.
Further, Rahman is ready for this. In recent months, her contributions to council have been notably issues-based, with representation of city-wide matters. She was part of a group of councillors working to ease rules on residential parking, as seen in this story; meanwhile she put forward her own plan to smooth traffic-calming requests, per this. And she publicly asked if residents should have a better voice on development decisions, as reported here.
So Rahman has done the work on this. She’s battling hard with striking pink election signs and - as a leading figure in the current administration, chairing the Community and Protective Services Committee - has strong visibility and incumbent advantage. Her name was even being whispered around City Hall as a possible mayoral candidate at one point, and that’ll come back. Rahman has to be the favourite to take Ward 5.
A full list of Ward candidates is maintained by the City Clerk’s Office here. And you can find a guide to every ward in our MEGAPOST here.
Part 4: In the news
Mike writes
As always, the news hits related to any part of London produce obvious trends, plus some location-specific stories. Here’s a selection:
Road safety is an issue everywhere, and here’s a recent fatal crash at Pinnacle Parkway, a spot that often shows up in traffic reports.
There’s construction, of course, with the Richmond/Fanshawe intersection having undergone years of work, and various other local projects such as this current one on Sunningdale. There is so much building out that way, all the way to the edge of the city.
Here’s an interesting story from CBC a couple of years ago, talking about Sunningdale as a growth area.
Of course, there are local development projects and public comment about this. This one at Fanshawe and Geary was stopped by community objections.
Cedric mentions the historical challenges related to one development in this ward, and there’s some background in a Free Press story here.
Also local to the ward, this report about councillors agreeing $7m of pipeline funding, reluctantly.
And the mall is there, of course. Here’s a story about a recent robbery there using pepper spray, and here’s something from the trade press about who owns the mall, with some history and background.
It’s a busy area, with lots going on. And it runs all the way to the city boundary now, with housing and commercial developments showing the vibrancy of North London.
Part 5: And there’s more…
Our restaurant pick
Cedric writes
Richie‘s Family Restaurant is my favourite spot to eat in this ward. A staple of the former Calamity Corners for the last 70 years, very few places in Masonville have stood longer. It is my first choice to go get a quick breakfast in the north end.
Mike writes
What Cedric said. I get the special.
The unmissable landmarks
CF Masonville Place
This is one of London’s two major suburban enclosed shopping malls. Opening in 1985, just metres from the city’s then northern city limits, Masonville has found its way to reinvent itself to fit changing trends over the last 40 years. Having been owned by Cadillac Fairview, the mall changed its official name to CF Masonville Place in 2015, matching the similar name changes of the malls mutually owned by the Toronto-based commercial real estate company.
Woodholme Manor
Whenever you are in Northwest London, this is a landmark that you cannot afford to miss. Located on 255 Delacourt Road, this large poured concrete house was built around 1893. For generations, it was in the hands of the Lawson family, who are like northwest London royalty, and lend their names to Lawson Road and Miggsie Lawson Park. The horror film A Thousand Cuts was filmed inside the house. Its three storeys consisting of seven bedrooms and six bathrooms rival the Old Courthouse for photogenic status of 19th-century castle-like buildings. You can see some of its grandeur in this CBC story.
That’s Ward 5
Cedric writes
And that’s how we see it. We went shopping in all four corners of Richmond and Fanshawe, played a few rounds of golf, and we offer you this guide to what it’s all about.
Next week, we're taking a break from the ward profiles, and instead we'll have a special treat lined up; a preview of what is to come after this series on our city’s wards is completed.
The Cedric/Mike teamup will continue for the rest of the summer! We’re looking at all 14 wards, featuring one every Tuesday all the way to September. You can follow along here at London Ontario Online News, where there’s new content every day and we live here, too.
We’d love you to stay engaged and in touch. You can send us any topics you’d like us to discuss, or questions, or most anything else. Thank you - see you soon!
Another great ward visit. Thank you. Though, if you had picked any restaurant except Richie's for the ward, that would have been an automatic unsubscribe. :)