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From The Editor

As Hill Street is about to be reopened to traffic again in both directions again, we look at how the roadworks have been affecting you. Richmond Council's decision to widen the pavements throughout Richmond Town Centre and to create tables (those raised platforms that allow pedestrians to cross the road without stepping down the curb and consequently also slow the traffic down) particularly around the station has unfortunately coincided with Thames Water's ambitious plan to replace all of London's old Victorian water pipes which has been taking place all over the borough in the last 12 months.

The long-suffering Richmond motorist, is unsurprisingly feeling rather put-upon by the latest bout of roadworks that has had buses doubling back on themselves in very time-consuming diversions and had Richmond Town Centre often at deadlock in peak times. I, for one, have tried to avoid driving to Richmond altogether in the last 6 weeks. The one time I forgot, it added about 20 minutes to my journey - which was particularly frustrating as there were other watys I could have gone!

However, despite the protests, many people will agree that the work that is being done is useful - this is certainly true of the work that Thames Water is doing, as they were losing unbelievable amounts of water due to leakage from the old pipes. And I remember a time a few years back when there was talk of Richmond Council pedestrianising the whole of George Street - a nice idea, but where would also the traffic go? I think that Richmond Council have realised that this could have created more problems than it would have solved and have therefore made the decision to simply widen the pavements to make the town centre more pedestrian friendly, whilst not banning cars altogether.

From the complaints I've heard, it is not so much anger at the work being done, but the way in which this has impacted the people who live and work in Richmond. As one gentleman describes it in a letter to Transport for London, "Your diversions need to be reviewed to get traffic moving again in this gridlocked town centre. This is not planned road works but planned chaos."

What are your thoughts on the roadworks that are being done in Richmond? Is the work necessary? And how do you think the road closures and diversions have been planned and managed? Say your piece in our chatroom: http://www.yourlocallondon.com/richmond/chat-room/view/?commentID=1475&categoryID=

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