Update on Road Improvements
We understand that the current works have been temporarily stalled following some design questions raised by TFL. Whilst this is hugely frustrating for everyone we look forward to the works starting again soon.
LBHF published this statement:
Update 24 October 2025: Wandsworth Bridge Road safety works delay
As part of the standard consultation process, officials from Transport for London (TfL) buses section have asked for a review of Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s programme to upgrade four safety crossings on the Wandsworth Bridge Road. This review of technical assessments for the programme has resulted in a necessary delay to the planned works.
This is disappointing as we believe the works planned is good for buses and motor vehicles as well as improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists. We are now working with TfL buses to meet their specification and data requirements and hope to expedite the programme of works as soon as possible.
We remain committed to working collaboratively with our residents and businesses to transform Wandsworth Bridge Road from a highway into a high street that is vibrant and more accessible – a place of which we can all be proud.
Road Improvement Works
There is currently some noise being generated on certain social media platforms by the pro-traffic groups who continue to campaign against the South Fulham Clean Air Neighbourhoods despite there being overwhelming local support for the scheme with residents benefitting from quiet streets that they can now cycle and walk down. The pro-traffic TCCG are now turning their attention to the council’s proposed regeneration and improvements on the WBR and have made a series of incorrect statements designed to shock and upset.
Background
The proposals are not new; they have been part of the regeneration plans for the road first proposed by the Council in 2021 following the GLA’s ‘High Streets for All’ Initiative. They recognise the need to create a destination High Street, promoting the road for residents and businesses.
The plans are part of the council’s commitments to the residents, businesses and users of the Wandsworth Bridge Road as part of the South Fulham Clean Air Neighbourhood. Lots of details on the history of the plans, the rationale behind them can be read on the council’s web site, our website and in previous newsletters.
Below we set out a Q&A specifically to address the scaremongering from the pro-traffic lobby:
Q&A
“Hammersmith and Fulham Council are planning to narrow Wandsworth Bridge Road to encourage traffic to use other routes by worsening congestion on this road.”
No. What the designs are trying to do is to engender a psychological shift in the minds of drivers, that they are not merely on a straight through-route to somewhere else but are on an urban high street with residents, families, school children, shops & restaurants.
“It is intended to discourage traffic from using this route without offering alternative solutions.”
The pro-traffic groups assume that the car is the only means of travel. This is not the case. Designs like these encourage people to choose alternative means of travel, be it public transport, cycling or walking and have been proven to work in countless studies globally, time and time again.
But where will the traffic go? How will I get from A to B?
The intention has always been to encourage ‘behavioural change’ in the form of transport people choose to take. ‘I don’t have time to take the car’. Driving is one of the most inefficient ways of traveling around London as well as being the most dangerous and polluting and having the largest negative impact on others.
More and more people are now making better choices, like using Lime and Forest e-bikes to get from A to B. This was demonstrated clearly during the tube strikes over the summer where thousands of people realised how much quicker, efficient and cost effective cycling was.
TfL Analysis 2024
If you want less traffic, you need fewer people choosing to use their cars.
This is a fundamental truth.
So why the meandering?
If you are reading this as a driver (& remember less than 50% of households in the borough even own a car) you will know how hard it is to respect 20mph when a road is wide and straight. WBR is no exception. When the road is clear, which it is at various times of the day and in the evening and at night, vehicles charge down this straight road at average speeds well above the speed limit. The record measured is 80mph!
Those of us who live on the road feel it when our houses and flats shake as HGVs and buses tear past in the evenings at 35/40mph. Now imagine trying to cross the road or cycle along it in these circumstances.
The meandering of the road helps drivers:
- to pay attention to their environment,
- makes driving at speeds above the legal speed-limit feel uncomfortable,
- obliges drivers to respect the law.
As a result, danger to all road-users is significantly reduced.
The council installed the current parklets a year ago to stress-test the chicaning of the road. They have demonstrated that the road can be made less straight (chicaning) whilst remaining a two-way carriageway. That inattentive drivers drove into them is evidence that when a road is straight drivers do not pay attention – it could be a parklet, a delivery vehicle or a child.
Redesigning this road is an urgent safety issue.
“The designs are ‘drastic’….. they do not meet the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, Vision Zero, Healthy Streets, Active Travel England…”
The proposals are not new, untested or “drastic”. They are recognised traffic-calming techniques used successfully the world over. From Paris to Walthamstow, Helsinki to Camden, roads are being redesigned to put people first, to prioritise the safety of pedestrians over the convenience of the car driver.
As such the redesign of the Wandsworth Bridge Road is no different from multiple other examples in this city and beyond. This is completely consistent with the objectives of all organisations pushing for safer streets, healthier & less isolated communities and tackling the climate crisis.
The principles at the core of the designs have been proven to be an effective way of reducing traffic, making roads safer and enhancing the urban environment. The idea that it discourages use of the road without “alternative solutions” is an extremely car-focused perspective. It makes the assumption that driving is the only viable means of transport.
These types of redesigns actively encourage a behaviour change – where people choose to use alternative modes of transport; be it public transport, cycling or walking. The fundamental truth is that:
If you want less traffic you need fewer cars on the road. Full stop.
Simply adding a new route or roads to alleviate traffic has been categorically proven to not work.
CASE STUDY:
Helsinki has just announced that it achieved VisionZero last year (ie. no deaths on the capital’s roads) and it did so because it reduced speed on the roads by a series of measures including:
“In many parts of the city, roads have been narrowed and trees have been planted with the deliberate goal of making drivers uncomfortable – the rationale being that complex urban landscapes force drivers to move more cautiously through populated areas.”
– Roni Utriainen, Helsinki Urban Environment Division
“It’s harming local businesses”
Quite the opposite – The Wandsworth Bridge Road is seeing a real boom in new businesses opening, with three more opening this week alone and another two in the coming weeks. Many of the sites that have been sitting empty for years are now being readied.
More businesses have opened than have closed over the past 18 months and many of these new businesses have been attracted to the area precisely BECAUSE there are regeneration plans for the road. They know that they will benefit from a more attractive high street once these have been implemented.
The vast majority of vehicles travelling up the WBR are not stopping here to spend money, they are passing through.
A successful thriving high street is one which encourages people to come, stay and spend; so making a high street attractive with ample space, outside seating, trees and greenery, lots of eating and drinking venues, bike parking (& yes some car parking too, which we have) attracts people to spend time in the high street. Research demonstrates this increases spend on the high street. See London Living Streets
People shop, not cars.
What about cyclists?
The safest and most effective cycling infrastructure is a fully segregated cycle lane—physically separated from motor traffic.
However, along much of Wandsworth Bridge Road, there simply isn’t enough space to accommodate this. A safe two-way (bi-directional) cycle lane requires a minimum width of 3 metres, while two-way motor traffic needs at least 6 metres—a total of 9 metres. In many sections, the total road width is just 8 metres, making full segregation impossible.
The current painted advisory cycle lanes are now widely recognised as unsafe. Rather than protecting cyclists, they often encourage dangerous close-passing by drivers.
Paint is not a magical force-field that protects us from vehicles.
In fact the research shows that whereas protected cycle infrastructure reduces the odds of injury by 40-65% in the morning commute, advisory lanes (like we have on WBR) increases injury odds by 34%.
The WBRA would very much like to see segregated cycle lanes where the road is wide enough to allow this; at the Southern end which could then connect to the East/West cycle route on Hugon/Stephendale. Along the rest of the road, we would encourage fellow cyclists to position themselves in primary position, as is your right. We are advocating for better signage in these sections to make it clear to drivers that cyclists have priority.
“Pollution is at an all time high”
No, it is not. Pollution in London is falling and has fallen fast thanks to London-wide initiatives such as ULEZ and the reduction of filthy diesels on our roads. However, we are all agreed that air pollution remains far too high across the whole borough. Indeed H&F have recently launched a public awareness campaign on this.
To reduce Air Pollution we need to reduce the makers of this pollution; cars, lorries, wood burners and gas boilers.
It is a very odd assumption that making more roads accessible to more vehicles, and making it easier to drive, will somehow reduce air pollution!
Electric Vehicles are not the solution
Whilst there is no direct pollution from the exhaust of EVs, tyre wear is another type of air pollution and EVs, being heavier, shed more rubber particulates.
They also contribute to the congestion and danger on our roads.
To improve air quality we need to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads, not make it easier to drive.
What about impact on buses & emergency vehicles?
When a bus is stuck in gridlock, it is because of too many individual vehicles on the road – not the chicane, cycle lane or parklet.
Buses have priority over other vehicles, and the chicaning of a road helps ensure that the bus is the fastest vehicle on the road by preventing drivers from overtaking it at the bus stop. So these designs will actually help buses, not hinder them. Of course the best help for bus times would be for more people to choose the bus over the individual car in the first place!
All road works and closures everywhere, at all times, are required to be signed off by emergency services. This is always a nonsense argument thrown up by pro-traffic, anti-change groups right across the country to try to halt improvements.
In conclusion:
The public realm improvements proposed for the Wandsworth Bridge Road will result in:
Quote from Living Streets’ Pedestrian Pound 2024 report
Interventions that reduce road traffic to facilitate active travel and improve air quality have been shown to have significant health benefits for residents in the local area. The monetised health benefits from even small-scale interventions can be significant and can exceed the costs of the schemes by up to fifty times.
Actions recommended by Living Streets to reduce traffic danger:
- Reducing traffic speeds
- Providing more pedestrian crossings
- Deprioritising traffic, encouraging walking, wheeling and cycling.
All of these are part of the plans for the redesign of the Wandsworth Bridge Road.
Flood Risk
Did you know: South Fulham sits on the flood plain of the river Thames and whilst there are structural protections in place from direct flooding from the river (Thames Barrier & river walls) the fact that we are so low-lying does put the whole area at high risk of flash flooding from heavy rain.
As the climate change is now ever more visible we are experiencing these heavy downfalls more and more often and as we saw on Monday this can lead to localised flooding either directly from surface water or indirectly as water backs up from drains through manholes.
Unfortunately, due to our antiquated sewage system, the rain water mixes with sewage making the flooded water contaminated.
SUDS – Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
You may have heard the term SUDS and the plans for the WBR include SUDS in the buildouts but what exactly are they.
Simply put they are patches of ground (grassy verges, green planting, etc) that can absorb rainwater so avoiding water rushing into the drains. This water seeps through the ground into the earth below, watering our trees and reduces the risk of flash floods.
We as individuals can help:
- if you own your home see if you can disconnect your roof gutters from the master drain and have the water go into a soak-away in the garden or into a water-butt first (saving rainwater for watering during dry spells).
- Do not pave over your garden or front without providing suitable drainage into the soil.
- The council have a very simple guide on how to mitigate flash flood risk in the home.
We all have a shared responsibility towards sustainable management of our urban environment, from watering street trees during a drought to ensuring we do not put ourselves and our neighbours at risk of flooding by paving over our properties.
In turn the council has an ambitious project to mitigate flood risk by breaking up the concrete jungle and installing SUDS whenever and wherever it can. We look forward to seeing this happening on the WBR as part of the redesign of the road.
SUDS as part of the High street design suggestions.
