Welcome to the LOSRA Website
Like any local community, the policies and decisions shaping the character and future of Lower Sunbury are influenced by a combination of local and national government initiatives, alongside market forces and vested interests operating within these frameworks. As with many areas, Lower Sunbury faces challenges stemming from an aging infrastructure, rapid urban development, increasing traffic congestion, and other pressures that impact both quality of life and the distinctive character of the neighbourhood.
In collaboration with local authorities, other residents’ associations and amenity groups, LOSRA plays a vital role in addressing fundamental issues that affect its members' lives. This organisation not only engages with broader strategic concerns but also focuses on the everyday matters that shape community well-being.
To stay informed, we encourage you to subscribe to our regular e-bulletins via the link at the top left of this page. Your continued support is essential to our efforts, and we urge you to join or renew your membership. Subscriptions for 2025 are now payable at £5 per household. Donations are also welcome.
The Riverside Players of Sunbury to Bring Steel Magnolias to the RAC. Book Now!
To book, go to: https://www.ticketsource.co.
Sunbury BESS – The Saga Continues…
Those with the stamina to keep up with this long-running story will recall from our web article on 13 June that Sunbury BESS Limited (SBL) had submitted some further revisions to its Battery Energy Storage System proposals for the site off Charlton Lane. These included almost halving the extent of the batteries installation and providing a Ground Investigation Report in response to the Environment Agency’s (EA) earlier objections to the proposed infiltration drainage system on this former landfill site.
Since then the EA has reacted to the Report by providing a response which disagrees with some of its conclusions and maintains its objections to the proposals. The applicant has in turn submitted just two additional documents, published on the planning portal on 28 July. The first of these is a ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ covering the various interactions between SBL and local residents’ groups and other stakeholders.
The second document is titled ‘Drainage Assessment’ and appears to be an attempt by the EcoDev Group (of which Sunbury BESS Limited is part) to overcome the EA’s objections by requesting the agreement of it and Spelthorne Borough Council to a conceptual approach to the drainage design at this stage; in return EcoDev would commit to a series of detailed conditions attached to a planning approval - presumably in lieu of providing a definitive revised drainage scheme as part of the application itself.
LOSRA remains fundamentally opposed to this latest iteration of the BESS proposal and has submitted new objections to Spelthorne Council. These have just been published on the planning portal and can be viewed from the documents list here.
A Reading - The Search for Anne Frank by Geoff Buckingham
4th August at 7.30pm, The Studio, Riverside Arts Centre, Thames Street
Written by local playwright, this is a powerful story of Anne Frank, her family and others caught in the horror of Nazi occupied Amsterdam.
This is a free event, with tea and biscuits available.
Geoff would appreciate some advance notice if you intend to be there so that he can plan casting and ensure there are enough copies of the script.
Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Another Green Flag Award!
We are so pleased to announce that Sunbury Park and Orchard Meadow, together with the Sunbury Walled Garden, have been awarded Green Flags for 2025. In previous years this award has been granted in respect of the Walled Garden only; so it's particularly gratifying to see the inclusion of Sunbury Park and Orchard Meadow for the 2025/2026 award.Closure of the A308 in Hampton – A Further Update
At the time of writing there are fewer than 12 hours to go before the scheduled closure of the westbound A308 in Hampton. Over the last 48 hours some residents in Lower Sunbury have finally received a letter from Thames Water advising of the closure, which for many will have been the first official information they have received about the project.
The Thames Water letter includes some brief details of what is to be expected, including the timeframe (7 July to ‘the end of October’, so now 17 weeks) and the fact that there will be ‘diversion routes’ in place for westbound A308 traffic – although details of these are not given in the letter. We know though from elsewhere that the agreed diversion route is through Hampton and Hampton Hill, which is – unlike the A308 – within the London ULEZ zone and includes a night-time and weekend HGV ban. The letter refers to these points by noting:
‘ULEZ and weight limit restrictions: We are currently liaising with both TFL and London Councils on this to ensure that no one receives any fines using the agreed diversion route. We will be aiming to come back and provide with an update a definite response soon via our webpage: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/hampton-barrier ’
There are currently no such updates on the TW webpage, so we have to assume that the closure may well start without any confirmation on those ULEZ and HGV assurances, which is unfortunate. Richmond Council published a brief news item on the closure on 3 July; it gave just few details and a link to the Thames Water webpage for more information! Surrey Council’s ‘Major utility company roadworks’ information page does not include the A308 closure at all, although it does suggest a link to a third-party database (the Causeway one network map) that does include the references of the closure notice (last updated in February) - and a link back to Richmond Council’s homepage!
So, as LOSRA has pointed out in previous articles, there is basically no indication that the implications for traffic through Lower Sunbury of this nearly four-month closure have been considered by any of the authorities involved. At this late stage we can only hope that the majority of motorists take note of the illuminated signs that have recently been put up asking them to ‘avoid the area’ for the duration of the closure. Needless to say, it is a request with which many of us cannot comply – simply because we live here and therefore have no choice now but to face the consequences of this ill-prepared scheme.
A Letter from Sahara Andrews - PCSO Lower Sunbury
PCSO Sahara Andrews, the designated Officer for Lower Sunbury, and her colleague Connor attended the LOSRA AGM, but were called away on a ‘shout’. Click here for the report on their local activities they would have presented had they been able to do so. Callers at the Walled Garden café yesterday may also have seen them having a ‘Cuppa with a Copper’!
More...
Closure of the A308 in Hampton – An Update
Since writing our web and Sunbury Matters articles two weeks ago, we have been trying to establish more information on the 15-week closure of the westbound A308 that is claimed to be needed to allow Thames Water to install a crash barrier between the road and the Grand Junction reservoir. Although we have had contact with Richmond Council’s highways department and Thames Water, we still have key questions unresolved with only a week to go before the closure is due to start on 7 July. What is depressingly apparent is that little or no thought seems to have been given by any of the relevant authorities to the potential impact of the closure on Lower Sunbury, nor indeed did they consider it even necessary to communicate it to our residents.
We have though had the benefit of two representatives - from Thames Water and from its traffic consultant Hatton Traffic Management - attending LOSRA’s Annual General Meeting last Wednesday 25 June, giving us an opportunity to quiz them directly on the closure. We asked them to provide answers to a number of questions; we are giving some of their answers here:
Q1: Has it been agreed that drivers of non-ULEZ-compliant vehicles will be neither charged nor fined for driving round the designated diversion through the ULEZ zone?
Thames Water have escalated this as a priority with Transport for London, Richmond and Wandsworth council and they are supporting the delivery on this. We are currently awaiting the response and will confirm as soon as we have it.
Q2: Is it confirmed that the permanent ban on HGVs in the Hampton section of the designated diversion, which is in force at night time and at weekends, will be temporarily suspended for the full duration of the project?
This has been agreed.
Note: we do not know with whom it has been agreed or how it will be implemented, but it is vital to avoid HGVs coming down the Lower Sunbury Road instead without realising that there is an even more severe 7.5 tonne limit through Lower Sunbury.
Q3: Will a full-time manned ‘stop/go’ traffic control be in place at the junction of the A308 and Church Street in Hampton to allow diverting westbound traffic to cross over oncoming eastbound traffic?
This has been confirmed to help mitigate the delays following the road closure and diversion, this will be implemented when and where required.
Q4: Will some ‘not suitable for diversion traffic’ signs be installed to deter motorists from attempting to divert through Lower Sunbury?
This has been forwarded to our project team and Hatton Traffic Management; we will notify you once we have an update.
From these responses it is clear that the analysis and preparatory work that should have been done and communicated weeks ago has still not been completed. It gives us no confidence that Lower Sunbury will avoid the chaos created by drivers attempting to find an alternative to the queues and the lengthy designated diversion around Hampton. In less than a fortnight we will know just how bad that chaos will be.
Hazelwood Centre - Forthcoming Events
The following notice has been received by LOSRA from the London Irish Amateur RFC and we are pleased to reproduce it here.
"We want to keep you updated with some of the events that we have coming up in July at Hazelwood. We hope that you can share it with the community so that they feel welcome to join in the fun that our sporting facility offers. Some are open to the public to enjoy and others we feel its best that the community is aware they are taking place.
2nd July - Quiz night all are, welcome to come down. Quiz starts at 8pm and enjoy the fun at our regular quiz night on the 1st Wednesday of every month. Come and enjoy this fun event and bring the family.
3-6th July - We are excited to be hosting this amazing event again in 2025. There will be around 4000 children of various ages playing across the whole facility over the four days.
We understand that the neighbours may worry about this volume of people and parking. We can assure them that there will be parking teams on every day to make sure that things run smoothly. Please let them know to ring the office should anything come to light. 01932- 750190. This number will be check at regular intervals throughout the days. Parking is being shared with various school around the area to help lighten the load and we are grateful that they have stepped up to help out.
Saturdays 12th, 19th and 26th July – Vitality Park Run 08:45am – Calling all you Sunbury local runners why not pop down and enjoy a lovely run around our beautiful grounds on a Saturday morning and then enjoy a lovely coffee and bacon bap in our café afterwards. home | Hazelwood parkrun | Hazelwood parkrun
Saturday 19th 22nd July and 2nd August - A lovely brunch"
AGM and Chairman's Report to Members
Forthcoming Road Works in Green Street & Church Street
Residents should be aware of road works in the key thoroughfares of Green Street and Church Street during the week commencing 30th June. It is intended that the works, which are described in the attached notice, will be effective between 8pm - 6am.
AGM Reminder!
BESS is Back – But What Has Changed?
After a deferment of several months, Sunbury BESS Limited has recently submitted a revised application for a Battery Energy Storage System on the Charlton Lane site. Readers may recall that the previous application, which was itself a revision of the earlier 24/00017/FUL, was withdrawn from the agenda just before the December 2024 planning committee meeting, at which it was recommended for refusal.
Closure of the A308 in Hampton – Will There be Gridlock?
From 7 July, for 15 weeks, the A308 Upper Sunbury Road will be closed to all westbound traffic from the Percy Road junction to Hampton Care Home. This is to enable Thames Water to replace the existing railings separating the road from the Grand Junction Reservoir with crash barriers that can prevent vehicles from entering the reservoir and polluting the water within it. Residents in Hampton were apparently advised of this closure by letter from Thames Water in mid-May, but there has been no such communication to those of us in Sunbury, so LOSRA has been trying to find out more details.
As part of the closure measures, Richmond & Wandsworth Councils Network Management, as the relevant highways authority, has defined a diversion route that leaves the A308 in Hampton via Church Street, heading north on the A311 towards Hampton Hill before turning left onto the A312 Uxbridge Road up to Apex Corner on the A316 Great Chertsey Road. From there the diversion is down the A316 Country Way to the Sunbury Cross Roundabout and thence back on to the A308 towards Hampton. The distance of the closure from east to west is about 340 metres. The same journey using the approved diversion will be just over 10 kilometres. Since the westbound A308 will remain open as far as Percy Road, it is inevitable that drivers (and/or their satnavs!) with knowledge of the local roads will realise that alternative diversions are available by coming through Lower Sunbury instead. We have raised that issue with Richmond & Wandsworth as well as Thames Water, together with these other points:
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The implications of the A308 being outside the ULEZ zone but the diversion being within it.
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The westbound routeing of the 216 bus needing to be changed.
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The right turn from Hampton Court Road into Church Street at Hampton being a significant hold-up point, even outside the rush hours. All diverting vehicles will have to cross the eastbound traffic.
Thames Water has announced a Drop-in session on Wednesday 25 June at Hampton Library to allow residents to ‘have their say’. In the meantime LOSRA will be pursuing responses to our points above and posting updates on our website.
To see map of diversion route, click here.
Riverside Players to Bring Adaptation of Great Expectations to the RAC
Great Expectations is a gripping tale of ambition, betrayal, and redemption. It follows Pip, a poor orphan whose life takes a surprising turn when he unexpectedly comes into a fortune from a secret benefactor. As he rises in society, Pip becomes obsessed with winning the love of the cold and beautiful Estella, raised by the vengeful and eerie Miss Havisham, a woman frozen in time ever since being jilted at the altar 20 years before.
Will Pip win Estella’s heart? Will he uncover the truth behind his mysterious fortune? Or will his “great expectations” lead to ruin? Bringing to life all the vivid and unforgettable characters of the original novel and conveying the story with great clarity, atmosphere and theatrical flair, this adaptation by Hugh Leonard of Charles Dickens’s most popular novel is by turns entertaining, exciting and haunting.
Performances:
Evenings: Thurs 3rd – Sat 5th July 2025 at 7.30pm
Matinee: Sat 5th July 2025 at 2:30pm
Box office: https://www.
