Village centre improvements

Earlier this year the Hampton Wick Association developed ideas for improvements to Hampton Wick’s village centre. We discussed these ideas with nearby residents and businesses who were very supportive. We then presented these ideas to councillors and council officials – on a very hot day in July!

The ideas included:

• A significantly larger, greener, pedestrian space in the centre of the village. This would allow events such as small farmers markets, Christmas Carols, concerts and the like to take place. It would also provide a proper focal point for the village: a place to meet friends and neighbours, to sit and chat, a place to relax.

• A much more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly environment seeking to address the current massive imbalance between motor vehicles and other road users. Pavements to be proud of instead of puddles to avoid and trip hazards to navigate.

Our presentation was very well received striking a chord with the councillors’ and council officers’ own thoughts.

As a result of this, the council has now approved funding for an Urban Design Consultant to develop these ideas further and to create an actionable plan.

We’d like to thank the councillors and council officers for their work in getting funding approval for this next stage.

Going forward, urban design and traffic studies will be undertaken along with resident and business consultation.

The HWA will continue to be involved in this process and we will keep everyone up-to-date with progress.

We look forward to a time when it will be a pleasure spending time on our High Street rather than a battle with noise and pollution and either speeding or queueing traffic.