Danebury Avenue free-for-all?

I've been trying to get to the bottom of secret Council plans to remove the road barrier at the end of Danebury Avenue by Alton School and Tunworth Crescent.

There are definite plans being considered to remove the barrier - which would turn Danebury Avenue into a through road for traffic wanting to access Richmond Park and Priory Lane. How do I know this?

Well, Putney's Conservative MP boasted about her involvement in this plan back in July in her report to the Putney SW15 website. She wrote: "A review of bus services overseen by the Council has come up with some options that would see a service feed ASDA on the A3, the Alton estate and Priory Lane, then going to Barnes Station."

Prompted by that, I've been pushing the council to tell us what exactly they have in mind. This is the reply I got from them back in Septermber:

"One of the options they [TFL] propose is the consideration of the removal of the road closure on Danebury Avenue for buses only. This would enable a bus service to penetrate through that part of Danebury Avenue and Priory Lane currently without a service, and provide an alternative direct route to Barnes Station.

"Separate to work being undertaken by the consultant the Council has investigated the feasibility of removing the traffic barrier in Danebury Avenue to permit use by vehicular traffic, following a request to do so. The investigation has been completed and the report detailing the outcome is being written."

So I asked who exactly made the request to open the road to all cars. The response:

"In response to the proposals associated with the Roehampton Regeneration scheme the Director of Technical Services was asked by Leading Members [ie Conservative Councillors] to consider the feasibility of removing the traffic barrier in Danebury Avenue to permit use by vehicular traffic."

In other words, the Conservatives are considering making Danebury Avenue a through-road but without explaining to anyone - yet - why.

These plans could help residents of the Alton enter and leave the estate more easily. But there are a lot of considerable drawbacks to the plans. For example:

• Thousands of non-residents will also use Danebury Avenue to reach Richmond Park or Priory Lane. At present they need to stay on Roehampton Lane until Clarence Lane.


• There are two schools at the end of Danebury Avenue: through-traffic will increase the risk of road traffic accidents here


• Traffic is likely to significantly increase into Richmond Park, not that long after it was reduced when Robin Hood Gate was closed by the Royal Parks Agency


• The quiet character of the western end of Danebury Avenue will change


• I've written before about how the redevelopment plans at the east end of Danebury Avenue will send hundreds of extra cars and lorries into the area when the road is already congested by the library. These plans could gridlock the Alton.

The Conservatives have a track record of consulting residents only after they've decided what to do - the Roehampton redevelopment plans are just the most recent example. This issue is way too important to let the Conservatives' plans go unscrutinised.