Upper Richmond Road is closed in one direction this morning after an underground electrical fault opened a hole in the pavement and brought three bus routes to a halt.
UK Power Networks engineers are working on what the permit notice describes as a PLV fault — a failure in the low-voltage distribution network — at the junction near Putney station. The road is closed with diversions in place. The work permit runs until 13 May.
Bus stop K outside the Putney Arts Theatre on Upper Richmond Road is also closed. Routes 337, 430 and the N74 night bus cannot serve the stop. TfL’s notice, added by hand to the standard yellow closure card, directs passengers up Putney Hill and from Putney Heath down Roehampton Lane.
The disruption comes on the morning after Wandsworth’s local elections. The count finished overnight with no winner. The Conservatives won 29 seats, Labour 28 — both one short of the 30 needed for a majority. Wandsworth has no overall control for the first time in its modern history.
The result turns on Malcolm Grimston, the independent councillor for West Hill who has held his seat for more than 30 years and has never aligned with either main party. He now holds the balance of power. He hasn’t said what he will do with it.
Putney was at the centre of the night. Voters in West Putney returned three Conservatives, flipping a ward that had sent two Labour councillors to the town hall in 2022. In East Putney, Ravi Govindia, the former council leader, held his seat by 20 votes. Voters in Thamesfield stayed Conservative despite a sharp Lib Dem surge. In Roehampton, Labour held all three seats. Across SW15, most results went to the wire.
The electrical fault is unrelated to the count. But the image is hard to ignore: road closed, diversions in place, buses rerouted — and a council that still doesn’t know who’s in charge.
For travel information, check tfl.gov.uk/journeyplanner. For election results, check putney.news.
