Traffic monitoring tubes have been installed across Putney just hours before this morning’s high-stakes meeting between frustrated residents and council leader Simon Hogg, raising questions about timing and intent in a community already sceptical of the authority’s approach to the area’s worsening congestion.
The black monitoring tubes appeared on roads across the area on Thursday, including Lower Richmond Road, Putney Bridge Road, Erpingham Road, Biggs Row, Felsham Road and Weiss Road – covering both main thoroughfares and residential streets heavily impacted by rat-running traffic.
While Wandsworth Council is likely to see the monitoring equipment as evidence of commitment to addressing residents’ concerns, locals have interpreted the timing very differently. With today’s meeting looming as a crucial test of the council’s willingness to listen, the sudden appearance of data-gathering equipment has been viewed with suspicion rather than reassurance.
“They have put one on Putney Bridge Road too just after the zebra crossing. Right in time for schools breaking up for half term,” one resident noted in a local community group, capturing the immediate scepticism. Another questioned: “Why not put them all up at the same time to give a clearer picture of the congestion?”
The distrust is not without foundation. The council has developed a pattern of measuring traffic and parking during periods of lower activity – a practice that has eroded confidence in data gathering. It’s also been the case numerous times in the past that when justifying new developments, the authority has counted parking availability at times when spaces are most likely to be free, leaving residents feeling that evidence is being shaped to fit predetermined conclusions rather than reflecting genuine conditions.
The half-term timing concern carries less weight in this instance, as the school break doesn’t begin until October 27 – more than two weeks away. However, the installation coming just 24 hours before this morning’s crucial meeting has created its own credibility problem for the council.
Opportunity knocks
This morning’s meeting at St Mary’s Church represents a critical moment for both council leader Simon Hogg and MP Fleur Anderson. Residents are arriving armed with months of frustration over rat-running that has made residential streets impassable, journey times that have doubled for short distances, and a perception that the council has repeatedly chosen measurement over action.
The installation of monitoring equipment could provide Hogg with a talking point demonstrating responsiveness. Or it could become another flashpoint if residents conclude they’re being offered data collection when they’re demanding solutions.
The opportunity exists for the council to turn this around. If Hogg and Anderson genuinely listen today and commit to meaningful action rather than further studies, they could begin rebuilding trust with a community that feels abandoned. If they attempt to use Thursday’s tube installation as evidence they’re taking the problem seriously without addressing underlying concerns about methodology and intent, the meeting could become confrontational.
The council has previously installed traffic counters on side roads in September as rat-running concerns intensified, but this latest wave covers a broader area and comes at a moment of maximum political sensitivity.
The meeting takes place today at 11am at St Margaret’s Church, on Putney Park Lane. All residents welcome.
