At the time of writing there are fewer than 12 hours to go before the scheduled closure of the westbound A308 in Hampton. Over the last 48 hours some residents in Lower Sunbury have finally received a letter from Thames Water advising of the closure, which for many will have been the first official information they have received about the project.

The Thames Water letter includes some brief details of what is to be expected, including the timeframe (7 July to ‘the end of October’, so now 17 weeks) and the fact that there will be ‘diversion routes’ in place for westbound A308 traffic – although details of these are not given in the letter.  We know though from elsewhere that the agreed diversion route is through Hampton and Hampton Hill, which is – unlike the A308 – within the London ULEZ zone and includes a night-time and weekend HGV ban.  The letter refers to these points by noting:

‘ULEZ and weight limit restrictions: We are currently liaising with both TFL and London Councils on this to ensure that no one receives any fines using the agreed diversion route. We will be aiming to come back and provide with an update a definite response soon via our webpage:   https://www.thameswater.co.uk/hampton-barrier ’

There are currently no such updates on the TW webpage, so we have to assume that the closure may well start without any confirmation on those ULEZ and HGV assurances, which is unfortunate. Richmond Council published a brief news item on the closure on 3 July; it gave just few details and a link to the Thames Water webpage for more information! Surrey Council’s ‘Major utility company roadworks’ information page does not include the A308 closure at all, although it does suggest a link to a third-party database (the Causeway one network map) that does include the references of the closure notice (last updated in February) - and a link back to Richmond Council’s homepage! 

So, as LOSRA has pointed out in previous articles, there is basically no indication that the implications for traffic through Lower Sunbury of this nearly four-month closure have been considered by any of the authorities involved.  At this late stage we can only hope that the majority of motorists take note of the illuminated signs that have recently been put up asking them to ‘avoid the area’ for the duration of the closure.  Needless to say, it is a request with which many of us cannot comply – simply because we live here and therefore have no choice now but to face the consequences of this ill-prepared scheme.

PCSO Sahara Andrews, the designated Officer for Lower Sunbury, and her colleague Connor attended the LOSRA AGM, but were called away on a ‘shout’. Click here for the report on their local activities they would have presented had they been able to do so. Callers at the Walled Garden café yesterday may also have seen them having a ‘Cuppa with a Copper’!

Since writing our web and Sunbury Matters articles two weeks ago, we have been trying to establish more information on the 15-week closure of the westbound A308 that is claimed to be needed to allow Thames Water to install a crash barrier between the road and the Grand Junction reservoir. Although we have had contact with Richmond Council’s highways department and Thames Water, we still have key questions unresolved with only a week to go before the closure is due to start on 7 July. What is depressingly apparent is that little or no thought seems to have been given by any of the relevant authorities to the potential impact of the closure on Lower Sunbury, nor indeed did they consider it even necessary to communicate it to our residents.

We have though had the benefit of two representatives - from Thames Water and from its traffic consultant Hatton Traffic Management - attending LOSRA’s Annual General Meeting last Wednesday 25 June, giving us an opportunity to quiz them directly on the closure. We asked them to provide answers to a number of questions; we are giving some of their answers here:

Q1: Has it been agreed that drivers of non-ULEZ-compliant vehicles will be neither charged nor fined for driving round the designated diversion through the ULEZ zone?

Thames Water have escalated this as a priority with Transport for London, Richmond and Wandsworth council and they are supporting the delivery on this. We are currently awaiting the response and will confirm as soon as we have it.

Q2: Is it confirmed that the permanent ban on HGVs in the Hampton section of the designated diversion, which is in force at night time and at weekends, will be temporarily suspended for the full duration of the project?

This has been agreed.

Note: we do not know with whom it has been agreed or how it will be implemented, but it is vital to avoid HGVs coming down the Lower Sunbury Road instead without realising that there is an even more severe 7.5 tonne limit through Lower Sunbury.

Q3: Will a full-time manned ‘stop/go’ traffic control be in place at the junction of the A308 and Church Street in Hampton to allow diverting westbound traffic to cross over oncoming eastbound traffic?

This has been confirmed to help mitigate the delays following the road closure and diversion, this will be implemented when and where required.

Q4: Will some ‘not suitable for diversion traffic’ signs be installed to deter motorists from attempting to divert through Lower Sunbury?

This has been forwarded to our project team and Hatton Traffic Management; we will notify you once we have an update.

From these responses it is clear that the analysis and preparatory work that should have been done and communicated weeks ago has still not been completed. It gives us no confidence that Lower Sunbury will avoid the chaos created by drivers attempting to find an alternative to the queues and the lengthy designated diversion around Hampton. In less than a fortnight we will know just how bad that chaos will be.

The following notice has been received by LOSRA from the London Irish Amateur RFC and we are pleased to reproduce it here.

"We want to keep you updated with some of the events that we have coming up in July at Hazelwood.  We hope that you can share it with the community so that they feel welcome to join in the fun that our sporting facility offers.  Some are open to the public to enjoy and others we feel its best that the community is aware they are taking place.

2^nd July - Quiz night all are, welcome to come down. Quiz starts at 8pm and enjoy the fun at our regular quiz night on the 1^st Wednesday of every month.   Come and enjoy this fun event and bring the family.  

3-6^th July - We are excited to be hosting this amazing event again in 2025. There will be around 4000 children of various ages playing across the whole facility over the four days. 

We understand that the neighbours may worry about this volume of people and parking.  We can assure them that there will be parking teams on every day to make sure that things run smoothly.  Please let them know to ring the office should anything come to light. 01932- 750190. This number will be check at regular intervals throughout the days. Parking is being shared with various school around the area to help lighten the load and we are grateful that they have stepped up to help out.

Saturdays 12^th, 19^th and 26^th July – Vitality Park Run 08:45am – Calling all you Sunbury local runners why not pop down and enjoy a lovely run around our beautiful grounds on a Saturday morning and then enjoy a lovely coffee and bacon bap in our café afterwards.  home | Hazelwood parkrun | Hazelwood parkrun

Saturday 19^th 22^nd July and 2^nd August - A lovely brunch"