Putney residents confronted the leader of Wandsworth Council yesterday with blunt assessments of the borough’s traffic crisis, warning that 10 months of meetings and minor adjustments have failed to address gridlock that has left some elderly people in tears and created dangerous conditions on residential streets.
“If someone had a critical problem in my business and it was then ten months later and you’re still listening to the problem, I would have been fired by now,” said Sean Pooley, who lives off Lower Richmond Road, capturing the frustration expressed by speaker after speaker at the community meeting at St Margaret’s Church.
Council Leader Simon Hogg acknowledged the Putney Bridge junction “isn’t working as well as it could do – that’s my responsibility so I apologise,” but said reverting to the previous layout would require closing the road again, tearing it all out, and returning to a design that “wasn’t actually nice or safe for pedestrians.”
However, his assertion that “plan A is to make the layout we now have which is better for pedestrians work properly” drew scepticism from residents who say the changes implemented earlier this year have made conditions worse, not better.
Real lives, real consequences
Residents described the human cost of the traffic problems with emotional testimony.
Gail Renard, head of the Erpingham Road neighbourhood watch, said: “We have elderly people in tears because they can’t get a bus. I mean I’m lucky I can walk – I have to walk over a mile to get to transport from Putney Common every day.”
She warned that with local council elections in May, “we will use our votes if this is not rectified soon because you have made our lives intolerable in what was a great area.”
Harry, who also lives on Erpingham Road, raised urgent safety concerns: “Every morning frustrated drivers are racing up that road as fast as they can to get around the traffic and that’s a school road. There’s people taking their kids to primary school, there are people walking their dogs across the road. At some point somebody is going to be killed.”
“We are scared to cross the road now because of this,” he added. “It is a safety issue. You have a duty of care towards all of us and you’ve been warned now about this.”
Hogg acknowledged residents are “literally trapped in their homes because they can’t get out on to Lower Richmond Road.” He said the situation is “hugely wasteful, damages the environment, damages our economy – absolutely no one wants gridlock in the town centre.”
“Simply doesn’t work”
Several residents challenged the council’s approach of making incremental adjustments to the junction rather than fundamentally redesigning it.
Kieren McCarthy, editor of this publication, told Hogg: “The Putney Bridge Junction simply doesn’t work. It’s not going to work – five seconds and two seconds [of extra green light time] is not going to make any difference.”
McCarthy proposed the council establish a Task & Finish Group – a format the council has used previously – to examine the junction and make recommendations. He also referenced a woman who died in May at a pedestrian crossing, noting that even after Transport for London agreed to change the lights following resident warnings, implementation will take until March – nearly a year after the death.
“Even if you push now on TfL it’s going to be at least another year that we are dealing with this appalling traffic.”
Hogg responded: “We haven’t said it works. I don’t think you’ve heard from me that I think that it works… everything is on the table to change this.”
What’s been promised
When pressed by Pooley for “the top three actions” to be implemented in the next two to three months, MP Fleur Anderson outlined:
- Reviewing the reduction from three lanes to two lanes on Lower Richmond Road to Putney Bridge junction
- Synchronising traffic lights
- Relocating bus driver changeover points on Lower Richmond Road and outside TK Maxx, which TfL and bus operators have identified as “a serious cause of the congestion”
Anderson said plans for the TK Maxx changes – which would allow buses to pull in by removing phone boxes – have been submitted to Transport for London and are ready to implement, but require TfL approval. “I will be raising that with the senior managers when I meet with them twice this week,” she said.
The council has already made minor changes, adding five seconds to green light times for turning left and two seconds for turning right at the Lower Richmond Road junction, but Hogg conceded “that’s not nearly enough.”
Hogg committed that “by the end of this month you will actually see the initial range of changes” and promised a letter to residents next week explaining what has been done. A report will go to the council’s transport committee next month “which will have expert advice and reports feeding into it.”
The TfL problem
A recurring source of frustration was Transport for London’s absence from the meeting. The council had requested TfL representatives attend, but they “said they couldn’t send someone,” according to the meeting chair. As it turns out, several TfL representatives were able to attend a meeting a mile away in Barnes to discuss their own plans for bus changes – a meeting that started as the one in Putney ended. This is not the first time TfL has decided to simply ignore residents rather than address their concerns.
Sue, a resident from Montolieu Gardens, challenged this directly, pointing out that “national government, TfL, you Fleur and you Simon are all Labour and you’re saying you can’t get through to TfL – what is going on?”
Anderson responded that TfL “are not a Labour organisation, they are a company,” and acknowledged the frustration: “I know it’s a really frustrating thing to hear and it’s a really strange frustrating thing for me as well.”
Both Hogg and Anderson repeatedly emphasised that while the council has completed its side of proposed changes, implementation requires TfL approval and action – something residents found deeply unsatisfying given the extended timeline of the crisis.
Hammersmith Bridge: The root cause
Much of the discussion centred on Hammersmith Bridge, closed for over six years, which Anderson described as “a national scandal and embarrassment.” She said Foster and Partners have designed a restoration plan but it’s “coming in far too expensive at £240 million.”
Anderson said she has pushed the Department for Transport to work with Heritage England to make the plan more affordable, and confirmed the Secretary of State for Transport told her three weeks ago that an infrastructure fund “can be applied to” for the bridge. However, Transport for London and the council must now submit a joint application.
“It’s all taking too long, it’s so frustrating, but I am doing absolutely all I can,” Anderson said.
Councillor John Locker asked Anderson to secure “a timetable for when this will get fixed – that is what we need because then we can plan everything else around that.”
Bus crisis adds to problems
Residents also highlighted severe problems with bus services, with Renard noting the 22 bus now stops at Putney Bridge in the morning, not reaching the common, and TfL considering terminating the 485 early, which would remove access to “the only accessible tube in the area” at Hammersmith – as Putney Bridge and East Putney stations lack step-free access.
Anderson detailed her “Putney bus task force” bringing together TfL, bus operators, the council and utility companies. She said the group confirmed Putney is “one of the worst areas in London” for bus issues and has secured reopening of the Green Man bus stop and timetable changes to improve reliability, though not solve underlying delays.
Michelle, who has lived on Putney Hill for 12 years, argued the council needs “to find out why people need to drive,” suggesting better coordination with home counties where many commuters live beyond the Oyster card zone. Anderson acknowledged the need to improve public transport reliability to reduce car dependence.
Communication failures
Several residents challenged the council’s engagement with the problem.
“You act like this is the first time you’ve heard about this,” said Renard. “We have been complaining since January.”
Hogg defended the council’s efforts, saying “this public meeting is not the first time we’ve heard about this or been working on this – we’ve been working on this closely for months, really intensively with TfL,” but admitted: “I’m sorry that we haven’t kept you up to date. We haven’t brought you on the journey of all of these meetings we’re having.”
He committed to better communication through neighbourhood letters, WhatsApp groups, and coordination with the Putney Action Group, which surveyed over 1,000 residents and found more than 90% unhappy with traffic in the town centre.
Political context
The meeting revealed political tensions, with Hogg noting the council “inherited this scheme from the previous administration” and specifically mentioning that Councillor John Locker, who asked a question at the meeting, “was a great proponent of this scheme.”
With local elections in May, the traffic issue has become explicitly political, with multiple residents referencing the ballot box. Hogg concluded by saying the council would return for another public meeting next year and “remain accountable to you.”
Both Anderson and Hogg encouraged residents to continue emailing them and to contact TfL directly, with Anderson saying she forwards all resident emails to TfL “as examples of what it means to everyday life here in Putney.”
The meeting also touched briefly on other issues including waste collection, district line reliability, and council funding, though traffic dominated the 90-minute session.
What happens next:
- Letter to residents: Next week
- Further traffic light changes: By end of October
- Transport committee report: November
- Fleur Anderson meeting with TfL senior managers: This week
- Meeting with head of district line: Wednesday
- Local elections: May 2026
TfL contact details are available on the council website. MP Fleur Anderson can be reached through her constituency office, and Council Leader Simon Hogg at simon@wandsworth.gov.uk.
You can listen to the full unedited, hour-long audio recording of the meeting below. Or download it here (87MB).
