Transport for London have been consulting on their plans to change the layout of the roads and pavements in Wandsworth Town until the 6th November. The consultation can be found at this link. Here is my response to the consultation, which I have sent to TfL.
Wandsworth Town Plan Consultation Response
When I was first elected as a Wandsworth councillor in 2014, the future of the Wandsworth Town one-way system was one of the first major transport issues considered by the scrutiny committee on which I served.
More than a decade later, remarkably little has changed on the ground.
Over that period, residents were repeatedly told that a comprehensive solution was on the horizon. Yet progress repeatedly stalled. The full scheme to remove the gyratory was never realistically funded and ultimately proved undeliverable. During its time in office, the Labour administration sought to break that cycle of delay and pushed for deliverable improvements that could be brought forward in the short to medium term rather than continuing to wait for a perfect but unfunded solution. While control of the council changed again in May, the underlying challenge remains exactly the same: Wandsworth Town cannot continue waiting indefinitely for a scheme that may never arrive.
The urgency has only increased.
Since these discussions first began, Wandsworth Town has changed dramatically. More than 1,000 homes have been built at New Acres. Hundreds of homes have been built at Ram Quarter. The Skyline development is reshaping the centre of Wandsworth Town. The redevelopment of the former Wandsworth Gasworks site will deliver around 620 new homes. Together, these developments are creating entirely new neighbourhoods and thousands of additional journeys through a transport network that was already struggling to cope.
Doing nothing is no longer an option. That is why I welcome the fact that TfL is seeking to make progress. However, I have also been struck by how little wider public engagement this consultation appears to have generated relative to the significance of the issue. I do not believe this reflects a lack of interest. On the contrary, the future of Wandsworth Town is one of the most important transport and public realm issues affecting local residents. Rather, I believe it reflects the way the consultation has been presented.
The consultation consists largely of engineering drawings, lane markings, kerb alignments, signal changes, bus lanes and traffic islands spread across numerous documents. While transport professionals may find these plans straightforward to interpret, many residents will not.
The result is that people are being asked whether they support a series of technical interventions without first being given a clear explanation of what success would actually look like.
Most residents do not care about lane widths, signal timings or kerb realignments. They care about outcomes. They want to know whether buses will become more reliable, whether it will easier to get between Southside and Wandsworth Town Station, whether crossing roads will become less frustrating, and whether cycling through the town centre will finally feel safe.
For residents, there are three simple tests that matter:
- Will traffic, including buses, move through Wandsworth Town more effectively?
- Will Wandsworth Town become easier and more pleasant to walk around?
- Will people be able to cycle safely through the town centre?
Those are the three tests against which I have assessed the proposals.
Test One: Will traffic, and especially buses, move through Wandsworth Town more effectively?
On this test, I broadly support the scheme.
The proposed bus-priority measures on Swandon Way, Armoury Way, East Hill, Fairfield Street and Wandsworth High Street have the potential to improve reliability on some of the busiest bus corridors in the constituency. Improving bus reliability is the right objective. Buses remain the most important form of public transport for many local residents and even modest improvements in reliability can have a significant effect on daily journeys.
However, improving bus movement is not the same thing as improving bus services. Residents in The Tonsleys have raised specific concerns about the proposed removal of the eastbound stop used by Routes 28 and 44 at the western end of Old York Road and the consequential loss of the next stop outside Wandsworth Town Station. Their concern is not simply that bus stops are moving. Their concern is that an entire neighbourhood could lose direct bus access and that the current interchange between bus services and Wandsworth Town Station could be weakened. Residents have also pointed out that this would particularly affect people carrying shopping from Southside, older residents and those changing between rail and bus services. A suggested alternative would be a replacement northbound stop on Armoury Way near the western end of Old York Road. These concerns deserve serious consideration.
The objective should not simply be faster buses. It should be a better bus network. TfL should therefore demonstrate clearly that access to local bus services will not be reduced, that interchange with Wandsworth Town Station will remain convenient, that older residents and those with mobility difficulties will not be disadvantaged, and that any changes to bus stops are justified by clear and measurable passenger benefits.
I would also like to see a clearer explanation of the benefits expected from the proposed bus priority measures. The consultation explains where bus lanes are proposed, but it is less clear about the anticipated improvements in journey times and reliability that passengers should expect.
The area requiring the closest scrutiny is likely to be Swandon Way and Armoury Way. I support the principle of improving bus movement on this corridor, but there are legitimate concerns that congestion may simply be displaced elsewhere. Residents in The Tonsleys have expressed concern that congestion on Swandon Way could increase rat-running through Old York Road, Ebner Street and Tonsley Place. There is also a wider question about whether traffic could be displaced into neighbouring residential roads around the station area, Old York Road, Tonsley Hill, Fairlight Road and surrounding streets if capacity is constrained on the strategic road network.
I am also concerned about the level of assurance TfL has provided regarding the traffic modelling underpinning these proposals. I am concerned about the bus modelling because of what happened in Putney three years ago. Residents in Putney were previously assured that modelling had been carried out in relation to changes around Putney Bridge. In practice, the result was severe congestion, widespread traffic displacement onto surrounding roads and significant delays to bus services. The eventual response involved a series of modifications over these two years.
The current consultation is much more ambitious and affects a series of interconnected junctions and road corridors across Wandsworth Town. Given the experience at Putney Bridge, I would like considerably greater confidence in the modelling assumptions being used. TfL should publish clearer evidence regarding expected traffic impacts, likely displacement routes, expected bus journey-time improvements and the assumptions used when assessing future traffic flows. Particular attention should be given to the impact of continued growth in Wandsworth Town, the ongoing effects of Hammersmith Bridge, and the interaction between these proposals and the wider South West London road network.
TfL should monitor Old York Road, Ebner Street, Tonsley Place and surrounding residential roads before and after implementation and commit to taking action if significant displacement occurs.
Test Two: Will Wandsworth Town become easier and more pleasant to walk around?
This is where the proposals are strongest.
For decades, Wandsworth Town has worked more effectively as a traffic system than as a town centre. Residents travelling between Southside, Wandsworth Town Station, Old York Road, Ram Quarter and the High Street often find themselves taking indirect routes, waiting at multiple crossings or walking around infrastructure designed primarily to move vehicles.
The additional crossings, wider pedestrian refuges and larger waiting areas proposed throughout the consultation directly address this problem.
I am particularly supportive of the improvements around Southside, Wandsworth High Street, Fairfield Street and Garratt Lane. These changes may appear modest when viewed individually on a technical drawing, but together they have the potential to make a significant difference to how people experience the town centre, and making the island in the middle of the Town Centre less cut off.
For many residents, the most noticeable change resulting from this scheme will not be whether buses are a few minutes faster. It will be whether they can move naturally between the station, shops, homes and businesses without feeling that they are navigating around a major road system.
The pedestrian improvements represent the strongest and most persuasive element of this consultation.
Test Three: Will people be able to cycle safely through Wandsworth Town?
This is where I am most disappointed.
TfL describes the proposals as improving cycling connectivity. That is true, but improving cycling connectivity is not the same thing as creating a coherent cycling route. After more than a decade of discussion, and with thousands of additional homes being delivered across Wandsworth Town, this should have been the moment when TfL set out a clear strategic cycling corridor connecting Putney, Wandsworth Town, Clapham Junction, Battersea, Earlsfield and the riverside.
Instead, the consultation delivers a number of useful improvements in individual locations without creating an obvious continuous route through the town centre.
My test is simple: would I be comfortable with a reasonably confident twelve-year-old cycling through Wandsworth Town? Not on one section of road. Not at one individual junction. Through Wandsworth Town as a whole.
I do not believe the current proposals allow TfL to answer that question confidently. My concern is not that the individual cycling interventions are wrong. Many are sensible. My concern is that they do not currently add up to a route.
The most significant gaps appear to be:
- the lack of a clearly defined route through the core town centre between Southside, Wandsworth High Street, Ram Street and Wandsworth Town Station;
- the missing connection between the proposed East Hill improvements and onward routes towards Clapham Junction;
- the absence of a clearly identifiable route linking Buckhold Road with Southfields, Earlsfield and Wimbledon;
- weak links between riverside cycling routes and the town centre itself;
- the unresolved issue of Old York Road, where cyclists and pedestrians continue to share space in a way that many residents believe creates unnecessary conflict.
Taken together, these gaps mean that a cyclist can see a series of improved segments but cannot easily identify a single continuous route through Wandsworth Town.
The missing links matter. For an experienced commuter cyclist, they may be an inconvenience. For someone who would like to cycle but does not currently feel safe doing so, they are often the difference between cycling and not cycling at all. This is not good value for money for TfL as there has been investment in cycle routes to the east, west and south of the Town Centre but these don’t join up so are less used. This is a significant missed opportunity.
The consultation succeeds as a bus and pedestrian scheme but falls short as a cycling scheme. I would strongly encourage TfL to revisit this aspect of the proposals and identify opportunities to create a genuinely continuous route through the town centre. TfL should publish a clear map showing the intended strategic cycling route through Wandsworth Town, identifying where cyclists will continue to mix with general traffic and explaining how any remaining gaps will be addressed.
Residents have also raised concerns about the current interaction between cyclists and pedestrians on Old York Road. While I strongly support encouraging cycling, schemes should reduce conflict between different road users rather than transferring it elsewhere. Particular concerns have been raised about cyclists travelling at speed through heavily pedestrianised areas, the relationship between cyclists and pedestrians in shared spaces, and visibility around some planting and street furniture.
These issues should form part of any wider cycling strategy for the town centre.
Conclusion
After more than a decade of discussion, Wandsworth Town cannot afford another decade of delay. The town centre is growing rapidly. New Acres, Ram Quarter, Skyline, the Gasworks redevelopment and other schemes are transforming the area and placing increasing demands on the transport network. The choice is not between change and no change. Change is already happening. The question is whether the transport network keeps pace with it.
For that reason, I support moving forward with improvements now rather than waiting indefinitely for a perfect solution that may never arrive. The consultation performs well against two of the three tests. It has the potential to improve bus reliability and it contains a strong package of pedestrian improvements that should make Wandsworth Town easier, safer and more pleasant to navigate. However, I believe TfL should
strengthen the proposals before implementation by providing greater transparency around the traffic modelling, protecting bus-stop accessibility and bus-rail interchange opportunities around Old York Road and Wandsworth Town Station, monitoring and mitigating any increase in rat-running through The Tonsleys and surrounding residential streets, addressing pedestriancyclist conflict on Old York Road, and, most importantly, creating a genuinely coherent and continuous cycling route through Wandsworth Town rather than a series of disconnected improvements.
Ultimately, residents should not have to interpret dozens of engineering drawings to understand the future of their town centre. After more than a decade of discussion, people will judge the success of this scheme in a much simpler way. They will ask whether buses are moving more reliably, whether Wandsworth Town is easier to walk around, and whether a twelve-year-old can cycle safely through it.
If the answer to all three questions is yes, the scheme will have succeeded. If the answer to any of them is no, there is more work to do.