From 7 July, for 15 weeks, the A308 Upper Sunbury Road will be closed to all westbound traffic from the Percy Road junction to Hampton Care Home.  This is to enable Thames Water to replace the existing railings separating the road from the Grand Junction Reservoir with crash barriers that can prevent vehicles from entering the reservoir and polluting the water within it.  Residents in Hampton were apparently advised of this closure by letter from Thames Water in mid-May, but there has been no such communication to those of us in Sunbury, so LOSRA has been trying to find out more details.

As part of the closure measures, Richmond & Wandsworth Councils Network Management, as the relevant highways authority, has defined a diversion route that leaves the A308 in Hampton via Church Street, heading north on the A311 towards Hampton Hill before turning left onto the A312 Uxbridge Road up to Apex Corner on the A316 Great Chertsey Road.  From there the diversion is down the A316 Country Way to the Sunbury Cross Roundabout and thence back on to the A308 towards Hampton.  The distance of the closure from east to west is about 340 metres.  The same journey using the approved diversion will be just over 10 kilometres.  Since the westbound A308 will remain open as far as Percy Road, it is inevitable that drivers (and/or their satnavs!) with knowledge of the local roads will realise that alternative diversions are available by coming through Lower Sunbury instead.  We have raised that issue with Richmond & Wandsworth as well as Thames Water, together with these other points:

• The implications of the A308 being outside the ULEZ zone but the diversion being within it.

• The westbound routeing of the 216 bus needing to be changed.

• The right turn from Hampton Court Road into Church Street at Hampton being a significant hold-up point, even outside the rush hours.  All diverting vehicles will have to cross the eastbound traffic.

Thames Water has announced a Drop-in session on Wednesday 25 June at Hampton Library to allow residents to ‘have their say’.  In the meantime LOSRA will be pursuing responses to our points above and posting updates on our website.

To see map of diversion route, click here.