A new zebra crossing is being installed on Felsham Road this week, directly opposite St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, after a nine-month campaign to fix a road that had become too dangerous for children.
The crossing replaces a worn speed hump that drivers have been taking at speed, often without realising there is a school nearby. Work is scheduled to begin on Monday during February half-term, and will include new school signage and approach markings designed to make the school’s presence unmissable.
Sophie Campbell, whose two children attend St Mary’s, launched the campaign in May 2025 after growing increasingly worried about the road. Felsham Road has become a rat run for drivers trying to avoid congestion caused by the Putney Bridge junction redesign, with traffic volumes rising sharply over the past year. Cars heading for Lower Richmond Road were speeding down the residential street with little awareness that dozens of children were gathering on a narrow pavement to get into school.
“We were finding it quite perilous to cross the road to get to the school gate,” Sophie said. “You felt this building tension amongst parents that you were holding your kids’ hands a little tighter to cross the road, which is just not a nice feeling.”
She had already been in contact with Councillor Ethan Brooks, one of the Conservative councillors for Thamesfield ward, about separate crossing problems on nearby Disraeli Road. When she raised the idea of a zebra crossing for St Mary’s, Brooks connected her directly with Sam Merrison, the road safety manager for Richmond and Wandsworth councils.
“He very helpfully took my email address, emailed the person and copied me in,” Sophie said of Brooks. “That definitely helped, having a direct contact.”
Merrison was receptive. He talked Sophie through the process and asked her to set up a petition through Wandsworth Council’s online petition system to demonstrate community support. With the school’s backing, parents shared the link through WhatsApp groups and the petition gathered around 160 signatures in two weeks.
“Sam was brilliant,” Sophie said. “He was very receptive and thought it was a good idea. It felt like he was helping to make it happen.”
The council then ran a formal consultation with local residents. The only comments related to pavement congestion at pickup and dropoff times. There was no opposition to the crossing itself. On 13 November, the scheme was approved.
The whole process surprised Sophie. “It wasn’t exactly a battle, I would say,” she said. “The process was longish, but it’s a whole change to a highway, isn’t it? I thought it would take a lot more.”
The crossing is part of a wider council programme that has delivered nine new pedestrian crossings in the past twelve months [pdf], with twelve more planned. Wandsworth has been installing zebra crossings near schools across the borough since at least 2024, when councillors approved new crossings for Hurlingham School on Putney Bridge Road and Heathmere School in Roehampton.
But the Felsham Road crossing carries particular significance. Readers of Putney.news will recognise the street as one repeatedly named in coverage of Putney’s traffic crisis. One comment on this publication last November warned bluntly that “Felsham Road is a race track with schools, someone will get killed.” Resident surveys have documented the road being used as a cut-through, with traffic increasing past the primary school as congestion worsened elsewhere.
Sophie hopes the success will encourage others. Residents on nearby Erpingham Road, which connects to Felsham Road and suffers from similar rat-run traffic and speeding, have been calling for a proper crossing of their own. Crashes and near-misses at the Felsham and Erpingham junction have been documented by residents and the road’s condition is deteriorating.
“It shows it’s possible to make some change,” Sophie said. “That encourages other people to go, okay, we’ll give it a go, because it’s possible.”
Her advice for anyone wanting to follow the same path: start the petition early. “If I was doing it again, I would do the petition before,” she said. “It’s really easy to set yourself up on that petition, and it’s a requirement before you can move forward.”
Putney.news will publish a follow-up with photos once the crossing is installed.
