Wandsworth’s planning committee has approved changes to the new Putney High Street hotel, knowing construction will close the pavement for up to two years, and that the hotel’s delivery door opens onto a road where the council has specifically banned loading.
The committee voted unanimously on Thursday to approve the revised plans for the Hub by Premier Inn development at 31-43 Putney High Street. The 10-storey, 200-room hotel is being built on the corner with Putney Bridge Road.
Three problems were raised at committee: pavement closure during construction; no space for cars/taxis to drop off or pick up hotel guests; and an unresolved delivery conflict once the hotel opens. They were noted, discussed, and then set aside. The committee approved them.
What happens to the pavement
Transport officer David Tidley told the committee that construction will use a “pit lane” on Putney High Street. The pavement will be closed and replaced with a closed, scaffolded corridor for pedestrians. Behind that corridor, a gap will be created off the road so lorries carrying cement, steel, and other heavy materials can pull in to unload beside the walkway.
The method was originally approved as part of the 2021 planning permission and has now been carried forward into the revised plans. No dimensions were given at the committee for the width of the pedestrian corridor or the pit lane itself.
Construction is expected to run for approximately two years, though the site has shown little activity in recent weeks despite demolition beginning in October 2025 – possibly waiting for the planning committee’s approval of this new plan.
The committee also received a late warning: the Construction Management Plan that was approved in 2023 covers only the demolition phase of the development, not the construction itself. A new plan for the construction phase must be submitted and approved separately, and must take into account changes to road and loading restrictions around the Putney Bridge junction introduced since 2023. The committee added a reminder note to that effect but it was not made a blocking condition of the approval.
The bigger problem
Once the hotel opens, deliveries will arrive via a dedicated service route from Putney Bridge Road into the hotel’s courtyard. The problem is that loading is currently banned on that stretch of road.
Wandsworth Council installed a Traffic Management Order in April 2025 creating double yellow lines and loading restrictions on the southern side of Putney Bridge Road for 55 metres, precisely where the delivery entrance is located. The ban runs from 7am to 7pm, 12 hours a day.
Developer Mosser’s transport consultants at WSP said in a note submitted to the committee that a new Traffic Management Order application “has been submitted” to amend the loading restriction and allow deliveries.
The committee papers tell a different story. Officers wrote that the developer “has been engaging” with the council’s highways team about “possible amendments” to the restriction, and that any change would require a new process including a public consultation period.
Putney.news searched five public databases for the TMO application WSP described as already filed. Nothing was found: not on the Wandsworth Council TMO register, the national Public Notice Portal, the London Gazette, the planning application documents, or via a site search.
Councillor James Jeffreys, who represents Thamesfield ward, raised the ongoing traffic concerns: “Traffic, as I’m sure we’re all aware in Putney, is absolutely horrendous at the moment,” he said, “and I cannot emphasise enough just how frustrated residents are.”
Councillor Sara Apps also raised the TMO question, noting that the proposed loading windows (7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm) blocked the the busiest traffic periods at the junction. She said she would “urge that we kind of take a good deal of scrutiny” on the issue, then acknowledged it was “not for this committee to determine” and the committee moved on.
Committee chair Tony Belton dismissed the traffic concerns more directly. “Surely from our own personal experience,” he said, “certainly when I go to cities, and I think London’s a pretty big city, I stay in hotels not having gone by car.”
The hotel’s 200 rooms will generate a constant flow of taxi and Uber arrivals and departures, particularly at peak times, for which no dedicated drop-off space is provided. Everyone except the chair of the Planning Committee appears to recognise that.
What this means if you use Putney High Street
If construction starts this spring as planned, the pavement on Putney High Street beside the development site will be replaced with a scaffolded walkway for the duration of the build. How wide that walkway will be, and what access will be maintained to businesses along that stretch, was not addressed at the committee.
When the hotel opens (currently projected for 2028) how deliveries will actually arrive remains unresolved. If the loading ban is still in place and no TMO amendment has been granted, daily deliveries to a 200-room hotel will have to find another way in, or wait until after 7pm.
The same council that approved the hotel also controls the loading ban that makes the delivery plan unworkable. The two processes (planning approval and traffic order amendment) have proceeded without any visible coordination between departments.
What residents can do
The Construction Management Plan for the construction phase must be submitted and approved before building work can begin in earnest. When it is published, residents can comment through the council’s planning portal.
If the Traffic Management Order amendment is submitted, it will be subject to statutory consultation, a 21-day public notice period during which objections can be filed. The notice will appear in the London Gazette and local public notice boards. No application reference number has been made public.
Thamesfield ward councillors James Jeffreys, Ethan Brooks, and John Locker represent residents closest to the development.
Putney.news will continue to track both the construction plan approval and the TMO process. Previous coverage of the hotel development has followed the site since demolition began.
