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.