Sarah Olney's Letter To Constituents

Dear Carolyn I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the Hammersmith Bridge situation. The Task Force This week, Baroness Vere announced that they have appointed Dana Skelley as Project Director for the Hammersmith Bridge taskforce. Dana has a wealth of experience including preparing London’s road network for the 2012 Olympics. The team met again yesterday and I am expecting an update to be shared with the public shortly. Diversion Route Safety Many residents have written to me about their anxiety around the safety of the paths at Dukes Meadow and from Barnes to Putney Bridge. I know Richmond Council are looking into the latter and this week myself and Gareth Roberts wrote to Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council, urging him to provide safety measures such as lighting and patrols across Dukes Meadow. You can read the letter here Buses Now that the 533 has increased in frequency, I hope that the challenges initially faced around infrequent services and overcrowding has been resolved. Do let me know if this is not the case. Conversion of the 533 to double deck operation is also being investigated. Other suggestions I have raised with TfL include:  Diverting the empty 209 into more 533 services ’We continue to monitor bus usage data and will consider this proposal. It should be noted, however, that these routes are run on our behalf by different operators, which means the proposal is more complex than it may seem.’ Extending the hours of the 485 bus route? ‘We are looking at two ways in which to improve the route 485 – by running buses for longer hours and by running via East Putney Tube station. We are, however, also investigating the possibility of implementing an interim scheme to improve services for your constituents and are in discussions with London General Transport Services Ltd who run the route on our behalf. This scheme is dependent on being able to achieve a turn that is currently prohibited at the junction between Putney High Street and Upper Richmond Road. This is a busy intersection, with multiple lanes of traffic approaching from four directions. We are therefore working to establish the impact of allowing buses to turn at this location on the safety of both road users and those using the crossings, and on general traffic flow that may result from any changes.’ Next week I have a meeting with the Bus Network Planning Manager at TfL to discuss other improvements that they are working on to help improve connectivity for Barnes residents. I will report back on this after the meeting. Ferry Services I hope to have an update to share on this next week. If you do have any questions or suggestions, do get in touch and I will investigate this on your behalf. Kind Regards Sarah Olney Member of Parliament for Richmond Park