The noisiest phase of the East Putney bridge cleaning is over, the council’s head of transport told a council committee this week. But a generator left running with no contractor on site to stop it, hours before the meeting, showed the management problems residents flagged weeks ago persist.
David Tiddley, Wandsworth Council’s head of transport strategy, told the Passenger Transport Liaison Group that the jet-washing and heavy machinery work on the two railway bridges over Upper Richmond Road was now complete. The remaining work would use hand tools and should be less intrusive, he said.
Residents described the overnight works as “hell on earth” when they began earlier this month. The jet-washers ran from 10pm to 5am, keeping families awake and prompting complaints to the council, Network Rail, and local MPs. The council’s press release had promised the overnight schedule would “minimise disruption.”
Nobody from the council has apologised.
A generator with no one watching
Hours before the meeting, a generator at the bridge site went off with no contractor present to stop it. Tiddley told the committee he went to the site himself, and it took several hours to get the contractor, M Group, to turn it off.
“I have still got complaints coming in occasionally and I’ve had one today relating to the noisy generator that went off without warning this afternoon,” he said. “There were still a few issues that we need to make sure we stay on top of.”
Cllr Jenny Yates, the cabinet member for transport who chaired the meeting, thanked Tiddley for his efforts to keep noise and disturbance to a minimum. She did not mention residents’ complaints.
What happens next
The works are expected to continue for a few more weeks. Network Rail owns the bridges and its contractors are carrying out the cleaning, with the council coordinating. One bridge is Network Rail’s, the other belongs to TfL, which operates the District Line through East Putney. Some works on the TfL bridge cannot start until 1am, further constraining the schedule.
The refurbishment was first promised in 2016 and finally started this month, a decade after councillors backed plans to clean up what was then described as a “damp, dirty and unattractive” area.
