News

Council calling for progress on re-design of the one way system

The council’s is calling for firm  reassurances from the Mayor and TfL that they are serious about carrying out the long-awaited and much-needed redesign of the Wandsworth one-way system.

The current scheme – which would remove all through traffic from Wandsworth High Street, significantly improving the town centre’s main shopping areas for pedestrians and cyclists – was first unveiled about a decade ago.

Removing through traffic from the one-way system has been a long term strategic aim of the council, but the works can only be approved and carried out by TfL. The council has set aside more than £27milllion to help fund the scheme.

Work was originally scheduled to commence in 2017 but TfL recently confirmed that this would not now happen until 2021 at the earliest.

Meeting Report: Growing up in Wartime Battersea


Sue Denton, one of the research team has written an interesting 50 page book as a report of the project. Cost £5

On Thursday 8 November Carol Rahn gave a fascinating presentation at the November meeting on an oral history project assembling the memories of local people who were living in Battersea during World War II. Their recollections of their childhood, their experiences of air raid shelters, brushes with death and evacuation made fascinating listening. The talk was accompanied by footage of the interviews which brought home the realities of a life far distant from that of children today.

Walk & Visit: Harmondsworth Great Barn and site of the third runway

On Sunday 14 October  a group of members went to see for themselves  the site planned for the third Heathrow runway. While visiting Harmondsworth’s Grade 1 Listed, cathedral sized, barn (dated1427), we met a resident of the village whose last twenty-five years have been ones of constant friction seeing off three attempts to have the runway built.  Attempt three remains in limbo.  We learnt, to our astonishment, that the new runway would be built within 250 metres of the barn, the mediaeval church and the few houses to remain in the planned, truncated village.