Wandsworth Council engineers met with frustrated residents on Friday morning for a second walkabout focused on the troubled Putney Bridge junction, with officials outlining recent timing changes while residents continued to challenge the council’s defence of the controversial redesign.
The walkabout, arranged at the request of Lower Richmond Road residents who have been sending the council a steady stream of complaints, brought together four local residents, representatives from the Putney Action Group, Conservative councillor Ethan Brooks (Thamesfield), and Putney MP Fleur Anderson, who attended the first 20 minutes. Three council traffic and engineering officers led the discussion: Henry Cheung, Assistant Director of Engineering and Nick O’Donnell, Director of Traffic Engineering. TfL did not attend.
The group met at 9:30am at the coffee bar on the corner of Weiss Road and Lower Richmond Road, one of the worst-affected areas for congestion since the junction redesign was completed in late 2024.
Cheung walked through the council’s recent efforts to improve the situation. Most significantly, timing changes implemented last weekend have given more green seconds to vehicles on Putney Bridge Road, which currently experiences the worst congestion leading back into the junction. Similar changes were made for Lower Richmond Road in October, and Cheung said the combined adjustments mean timing is now “nearly back to” pre-junction levels.
The carriageway widening outside TK Maxx, which has been repeatedly delayed, now has a target date of 26 January. BT phone boxes are being relocated to make space for the work, with planning permission already submitted.
However, the walkabout also exposed continuing tensions between how the council views the junction and how residents experience it.
Cheung described the junction as “much more compliant” based on data, a framing that drew immediate pushback from residents. They questioned what “compliance” means when they face heavy congestion daily and struggle to exit their own roads during peak times.
The council defended the redesign in familiar terms, pointing to what O’Donnell described as a “horrific pedestrian environment” before the changes. Residents disputed this too, arguing that the new pedestrian islands are confusing and that people still run across the road regardless.
The contentious left-turn lane reduction from Lower Richmond Road onto Putney Bridge remains a sticking point. The redesign reduced what was two lanes to one, with a mandatory island between left and right turns required under TfL rules. The council maintains this makes little difference because there is only one lane over Putney Bridge anyway due to the bus lane. Residents strongly disagreed, pointing to lighter congestion when two lanes existed.
The bus stop outside Kenilworth Court on Lower Richmond Road also remains problematic. Despite attempts to relocate it, buses continue stopping at or near the old location, causing backups. Cheung described efforts to resolve this with TfL as “an ongoing battle” and said discussions with bus operators about driver changeover locations have been “really difficult.”
TfL’s role in the junction’s problems came up repeatedly. The transport authority vetoed several earlier designs and imposed the current layout under deadline pressure for funding. The council expressed frustration at being caught between TfL constraints and resident complaints.
Despite the tensions, the walkabout represented genuine engagement. Cheung came prepared with diagrams showing various options the council is considering for improving traffic flow around the junction and surrounding streets, and asked for resident feedback.
The Putney Action Group has launched a new survey to measure whether the recent changes have improved residents’ experience. The group’s previous survey of 1,371 residents found 86% described the junction as a “disaster.” Results will inform the group’s ongoing discussions with the council and TfL.
The council’s junction page provides updates on planned improvements.
If you feel strongly about Putney’s traffic issues, you should spend a few minutes filling the latest PAB survey asking about how you feel the changes made so far have impacted you.
As a SW15 pedestrian I’m much happier with the revised crossing on the carriageways around the bridge.
As for people not waiting and crossing through the flowing traffic, you can’t realistically cater for idiots whatever the road layout.