Plans to pedestrianise Wandsworth High Street still set to go ahead
By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter
Transport for London (TfL) said it is committed to redesigning a “nightmare” one-way road system in after doubts were raised about the scheme’s future following years of delay.
Wandsworth council set aside £27m of the project’s estimated £79m costs more than a decade ago to redesign a town centre to slash congestion in Wandsworth High Street.
TfL published the plans in 2014, which were supported in consultations, and work was due to begin in 2017 – but this still hasn’t happened.
The proposals would see a gyratory overhauled to end the dominance of cars and lorries in the town centre, leaving it free for buses, bikes and pedestrians.
This would involve rerouting the A3 and A205 South Circular to the north of the town centre along Armoury Way, which would become two-way, and restricting the central section of Wandsworth High Street and Garratt Lane to buses and cyclists.
This means all traffic except buses would be diverted away from the high street.
At a council meeting in March 2021, former Conservative leader Ravi Govindia said there would be further delays to the scheme after TfL furloughed staff for much of 2020 due to the pandemic – including the team working on the project.
He said a business case would be submitted to the Department for Transport for funding and it was expected the outcome would be known that summer.
But he expressed “dismay” in March this year over continuing delays to the revamp and raised concerns it would be scrapped altogether.
Helen Cansick, head of healthy streets investment at TfL, said: “Funding from the DfT would be needed to build the scheme and we continue to work with Wandsworth council on submitting the strongest possible business case to allow the scheme to go ahead.”
A spokesperson for Wandsworth council said: “By removing and reducing through traffic the changes would deliver cleaner air and safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists and deliver improvements in bus journey times.”
Picture: Artist impression of a pedestrianised town centre following the removal of the one-way system (Picture: Wandsworth council)
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Hi, it is not very clear if the project will go ahead or not. Headline seems to suggest so, but once one reads the article it doesn’t sound so promising unfortunately. Especially after funding has been put aside for a decade now, and still TFL hasn’t done anything to make use of it. Did I read that wrong? Thanks, Alice