River Thames Scheme – Staines to Walton on Thames, Statutory Consultation Feb 2024

 

The following is a brief summary of what is important from a cycling perspective of the River Thames Scheme being proposed by the Environmental Agency between Staines / Egham and Walton / Shepperton. I have left out details of flows through the channels, changes to weirs, computer modelling, etc, that was all very interesting but not relevant to cycling.

The scheme can be considered, two distinct parts, Staines Bridge to Littleton and from Littleton to Walton Bridge.

Staines Bridge to Littleton

This would provide new route from the Egham side of Staines Bridge to Littleton. The first part of this route follows the existing NCN 4 route down along side of the A320, using a cycle path until just after the junction with Bowes Road. Here you will be able turn off right, away from the A320 and enter Royal Hythe. This aera is totally traffic free and crosses Green Lane and Norlands Lane using new bridges. Just after Norland Lane (well known to B riders), the route changes to an easterly direction and runs parallel with Norlands Lane to rejoin the A320 just north of the entrance to Penton Hook Marina. It then connects to a cycle path that already exists on the left-hand side of the road from Staines. Hopefully this will have a traffic light crossing here but nothing mentioned in the Scheme so far. At the roundabout that serves Thorpe Park, we then leave the A320 and enter a new Penton Park blue open space that takes us in a southerly direction, past Abbey Lake on the right, to an existing bridge that takes us onto Burway Ditch bridleway. From here we turn to the east to cross Ferry Lane and then a new path through to the Thames, just north of the existing M3 motorway. Here there will be a new bridge built to take cyclists and pedestrians a cross the river and on to the Littleton to Walton section.

Littleton to Walton Bridge

On exiting the bridge, we then would cycle a short distance along the road towards Chertsey Lock and turn left just after the motorway bridge on to a new cycle path that runs along next to the M3 until we meet Littleton Lane. Here we gain an underpass taking us a through to the junction of Sheepwalk and Chertsey Road. From here we follow the existing road down to just before the Ferry Café where we turn left on to a new path that leads to a new bridge across the Thames onto Desborough Island. From here we would join Walton Bridge Lane or the Thames Path that takes us to Walton Bridge / Weybridge.

Eastern Side of the Thames Staines to Laleham 

There are no fixed plans for the section of the Thames Path apart from a commitment to improve the environment and make it all more accessible to cyclists. So we will have to wait and see.

Summary

Overall, it is well thought out and will give us some alternative routes. We rarely use the eastern side of the route from Staines to Penton Hook Marina, but it could become an alternative to using the western side between Staines and Laleham. The route proposed keeps you away from the A320 for much of the route and connects with existing cycle paths on the A320 which is good. The only question is, will traffic lights be provided at the crossing points of the A320.

From Penton Hook roundabout to the new bridge across the Thames I feel that providing the M3 is not too noisy would be a better option and avoids using the B375 Chertsey Road and comes out a convenient location, Sheepwalk / Chertsey Road junction. Once again the provision of a traffic light crossing has not been mentioned but would help both cyclists and walkers.  

The proposed new bridge across to Desborough Island provides a good link to Weybridge and Walton and will be well used.

The scheme is not due to be completed until 2030.

I feel that there are a few areas of concern, and they are -

1.       Crossing the A320. Traffic lights are needed to make it safe for walkers and cyclists.

2.       The exit from Manor farm at Sheepwalk / Chertsey Road. Traffic lights are needed to make it safe for walkers and cyclists.

3.       An exit from Manor Farm / Sheepwalk at the entrance to Dockett Eddie Lane would be useful for cyclists and walkers. Once again traffic lights would be needed to ensure that people can cross safely.