Putney MP Fleur Anderson warned in 2020 that the Alton Estate regeneration would fail without a “clear commitment from TfL to increase level of bus services.”
Five years later, she is urging residents to vote yes on the same scheme – despite transport being worse and there still being no commitment from Transport for London.
Residents are voting right now on whether to approve the £100 million scheme. The ballot closes next Wednesday, 16 October. They have just days to decide whether to back a plan their own MP once said was doomed to fail.
When Conservatives controlled the council, Anderson (a Labour MP) objected to the Alton Estate regeneration proposals on multiple grounds. While she said she had “no objection to a regeneration scheme in general,” transport was a key concern.
Her objection stated: “Nothing about improvements to transport connections and buses in plans – need clear commitment from TfL to increase level of bus services – poor transport will impact on employment opportunities and success of regeneration.”
She also warned about “problems of private and public transport – increased services needed to cater for increased demand.”
Anderson made clear that without a commitment on buses, the regeneration would fail residents.
The Putney Society agreed, warning that “poor transport connections make area unsuitable for high density development.” A petition with 363 signatures demanded “better transport connections including more buses.” Community group Alton Action said better bus services were essential.
What Anderson accepts now
Now that Labour runs the council, Anderson says she is backing the plan to add hundreds more residents to the estate, despite her demand for a “clear commitment from TfL” being nowhere to be seen.
Instead, she argued this week that plans to add more people to the estate will pressure TfL into providing better services – they just have to be approved first. Meanwhile, the council notes that planning approval will only trigger negotiations with TfL – not produce any form of clear commitment.
There are also no extra parking spaces for the hundreds of new residents. The official council publication states: “What’s most important to us is that the people who live on the Alton already don’t lose out on parking because of the new homes. A new parking scheme, with FREE permits for existing residents only.”
New residents will not be allowed to park cars on the estate – compounding the transport problems Anderson identified in 2020.
Transport problems go back 15 years
Transport problems on the Alton Estate were first officially raised in March 2009. By 2015, Wandsworth Council’s own planning document called Roehampton “relatively isolated in transport terms” with “a high number of low-income households dependent on buses.”
When developers applied to build on the Alton Estate in 2019, Transport for London warned that “there are currently two routes in proximity to the development site which are full or close to being full.” TfL worked out the new homes would create 246 bus trips during the morning rush hour alone. The council had to pay £650,000 toward buses but TfL gave no promise of better services.
Lots of people raised concerns. Even the previous Conservative MP Justine Greening said in 2019 that the council must “work with TfL to improve transport links in tandem with the regeneration plans.”
Things got worse in 2019 when Hammersmith Bridge closed. This cut off the number 72 bus route to Hammersmith tube station that residents relied on.
In 2022, TfL wanted to cut even more bus routes serving Roehampton. Wandsworth Council put out an official statement in November 2022 warning this would “further cut off an already isolated area.”
Situation has worsened in past few years
Since 2022, Anderson has actively campaigned for “Better Buses for Putney and Roehampton.” She has called the services “overcrowded and unreliable.”
Yet she now backs adding hundreds more residents to the estate without a clear commitment to better services. Transport links are actually worse now than in 2020. Hammersmith Bridge is still closed. TfL has tried to cut services rather than add them. The council’s new bus services have been cancelled at significant cost to taxpayers. And huge congestion stemming from a poorly designed junction at Putney Bridge has led to extensive traffic and growing bus delays.
Yet our MP now backs the development without the commitment she said was essential and with even less prospect of better bus services than five years ago.
We asked Ms Anderson why she urges a yes vote without the “clear commitment from TfL” she said was essential in 2020. She told us:
On the Alton regeneration, I am supporting a yes vote for the investment the Estate deserves and has needed for far too long. This is investment is in new GP surgeries, new and bigger shops, a new youth space and play space and a children’s centre, a community centre, new library, and much needed high quality new homes including bigger homes for families.
TfL have said that transport will increase with more people as they have done in other areas. So a yes vote would also mean that TfL can plan for this. The years of uncertainty will be over, and the significant Council investment of £100 million will bring in further investment, not just in transport but in many other ways that will benefit residents across the Estate and Roehampton too.
