Alan Titchmarsh Says Losses Caused by M25-A3 Works Are ‘Catastrophic’ for the RHS

Published on: 17 Jan, 2025
Updated on: 17 Jan, 2025

Cockcrow Bridge under construction. Picture: Chris Dick

By Martin Giles

The major roadworks at Junction 10 of the M25/A3 are costing RHS Wisley millions because of lower visitor numbers.

With 350,000 fewer people visiting RHS Wisley annually, £6 million has been lost to date and the Royal Horticultural Society, a registered charity, is calling on Government intervention for compensation to enable vital science, community and education projects, now at risk, to proceed.

As the A3 closes this weekend for the installation of the UK’s first heathland bridge, Cockcrow Bridge, the RHS says its losses will rise to £11 million when the roadworks end in 2026, which it says is “substantial for a gardening charity, but small change compared to the £317 million scheme”.

A planned interview and on-site press visit, due to have been hosted today by National Highways, was cancelled because of the action being taken by RHS.

The Society says that due to the financial losses it is now delaying the development of new arboretums at its gardens and the planting of 4,000 trees to investigate climate resilience for the next century; significantly reducing funding for scientific research to find nature-based solutions to some of the UK’s biggest environmental challenges; cutting back on its community outreach work and looking at training 10 per cent fewer work-based student horticulturists over the next two years.

RHS Wisley (Wikipedia)

According to RHS figures, nearly 80 per cent of members who visited Wisley less frequently in the last 12 months attributed this to the M25/A3 roadworks near the garden. Additionally, 63 per cent of those who have not visited the gardens in this period attributed their decision to the roadworks.

Alan Titchmarsh

One of the UK’s best loved gardeners, Alan Titchmarsh, and the RHS are now calling on everyone who values horticulture and gardens for a greener, healthier future to sign their petition urging the Government to recognise RHS Wisley as a special case for compensation for the devastating losses caused by the National Highways roadworks to safeguard the RHS and its vital charitable work for the future.

Alan Titchmarsh said: “With the £6 million losses the RHS could have created 15 NHS wellbeing gardens and brought gardening and nature to hundreds more schools across the UK. £6 million would also fund 110 horticultural apprenticeships or 38 science PhD students supported by 76 UK leading scientists to find nature-based solutions to help issues like pollution, flooding and the biodiversity and the climate crises.

“These losses are catastrophic not only for the RHS, but for the whole of the UK in terms of the incredible work the RHS does to help people and planet and educating and supporting millions of gardeners to garden more sustainably for a better future.

“Unlike others that failed before it, this Government must recognise the importance of horticulture, of gardeners and of the immense positive benefits that gardens, gardening and growing plants can have on our health, the environment, wildlife and biodiversity to safeguard the future for generations to come.

“Every gardener, everyone who loves gardening and everyone who loves RHS Garden Wisley, one of our finest gardens, please sign our petition and stand up for our nation of gardeners.”

Given to the RHS in 1903, RHS Wisley is  considered a unique place of historical and horticultural value. It has one of the world’s largest plant collections, with over 25,000 different species and is the oldest and most horticultural diverse RHS Garden, where today hundreds of students are trained and over a million visitors normally enjoy the garden each year.

RHS Director General Clare Matterson said: “The Highways compensation laws are complicated and unlikely to enable the RHS to recoup these devastating losses. If there was ever a special case for compensation surely RHS Wisley stands out as a national treasure that needs to be upheld and prized and our charitable work as vital to be protected.

“Whilst we’re grateful for the new road and the positive difference it is now beginning to make following months of disruption, going back to our original objections it continues to be a flawed solution that increases car miles around J10 by some 1 million kilometres per annum, affecting the Special Protection Area. We continue to believe circular routing could have been avoided, saving these increased car miles, by creating slip roads off the A3.

“At the time of granting consent to the scheme, the Secretary of State reviewing the Planning Inspectors decision assessed that the RHS had a case, but that we were overstating the heritage and economic harm and that it would be short lived and insubstantial. Today we can now evidence that the harm is exactly as we predicted.”

The A3 closure over the coming weekend will begin overnight on January 17 through to the morning of January 20 – leading to the RHS once again facing dramatically reduced visitors to the gardens.

The A3/M25 works began in September 2022. Since then there have been dozens of road closures and significant disruption and traffic issues for visitors getting to RHS Garden Wisley.

RHS Wisley says the £6 million loss to date includes a near £1 million impact on RHS membership income. Since September 2022, the charity says, there has been an overall 25 per cent reduction in visitors, severely impacting gate admissions and secondary income.

The RHS director general continued: “The RHS has been here supporting gardeners for over 220 years. Today we now need their help to safeguard this charity for hundreds of years to come.”

Junction 10 full A3 weekend closure – 9pm Friday to 6am Monday

National Highways will  be closing the A3 in both directions for the weekend of January 17-20. The closure will start at 9pm on Friday  January 17 and will go through until 6am on Monday.

The closed stretch is south of the M25 and will be between the junction 10 interchange and Send B2215/A247.

The closure is to allow the installation of Cockcrow Bridge, which will be the UK’s first heathland bridge

Diversion

The diversion route to go southbound during the closure will be via Cobham, Chessington, Great Bookham and Effingham, rejoining the A3 at Send.

Meanwhile to travel northbound the diversion route will be via East Clandon, Effingham, Fetcham and then onto the M25 towards Wisley.

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