Dear Neighbour
There have been traffic diversions at the Hampton Triangle since at least 25 October. The reason is that Thames Water are digging up the water mains. Nothing new there – they seem to dig up the A308 somewhere along the stretch between Church Street, Hampton and the junction with the Lower Sunbury Road every year around now.
This time, however, they are digging in front of The Bell, and at other sites around the Hampton Triangle. Traffic is now one-way only (westbound) in front of The Bell. Vehicles travelling along the A308 towards Hampton Court and Kingston are being diverted up High Street and then down Church Street to rejoin the A308. The result has been traffic chaos. There have been several accidents, danger to pedestrians, and road rage at enhanced levels. Large vehicles have been forced into three point turns to negotiate the sharp corner at the top of the Triangle.
This is a timely pre-run of the practical implications of The Jockey Club’s plans for the Hampton Triangle. These plans can be seen in Document 7, attached. The salient points are a ban on vehicles turning right from the A308 into the High Street, and left from the High Street onto the A308, and a ban on vehicles turning right from Station Road onto the High Street.
That will mean the traffic from Station Road having to use the Triangle as a large misshapen roundabout, travelling up the High Street and turning very sharply right into Church Street in order to get to the A308. Vehicles coming south from Hampton Hill and wishing to travel towards Sunbury Cross on the A308 will have to use Church Street, whereas before they might have used either Church Street or the High Street. And all this on top of what The Jockey Club assumes will be an increase of only 300 cars during rush hours resulting from the 1500 dwellings plus commercial units which they want to build on Green Belt at the Kempton Park estate. One might justifiably call that wild, bordering on criminal, optimism.
Sunbury Cross roundabout and the Hampton Triangle are already pinch-points for local and through traffic. Just the slightest restriction – as the current Thames Water road-works show so clearly – causes huge tailbacks all over the place. Traffic has regularly been queuing as far back towards Sunbury Cross as Harfield Road, and that’s out of rush hour. Add in the likely extra traffic from the proposed development at Kempton Park – which could easily be three times the assumption of The Jockey Club – and the result will be gridlock for anyone who wants to travel other than at midnight. No amount of fiddling with traffic arrangements will change that.
Recently released FOI documents confirm that a planning application is expected to be made by The Jockey Club after the general election in May 2015. We will need funds to fight it.
Donations to the Keep Kempton Green Fighting Fund can now be made through PayPal. Just go to http://www.losra.org, scroll down a little, and click on the button marked “Donate to the Keep Kempton Green Fund”. You can also donate by cheque. Please make your cheque payable to LOSRA and send it to:
20 Green Street, Sunbury, TW16 6RN
As you would expect, the identity of all donors will be kept confidential.
Remember: Keep Kempton Green began as a campaign to protect Green Belt at Kempton Park. That campaign has now been forced to expand to protect Green Belt throughout Spelthorne, which is all at risk in a forthcoming review of our Local Plan. This threat is against the whole Borough.
Visit us at http://www.keepkemptongreen.com, Like our Facebook page, and Follow us on Twitter (links to both on the website). Leave your comments at all three.
Kind regards, and thank you very much in advance for your generosity.
Keep Kempton Green
Keep Kempton Green 