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Letter: We Are on the Eve of the Junction 10 Decision
Published on: 11 May, 2022
Updated on: 11 May, 2022
Digital model of the proposed M25 junction 10 improvements.
From Colin Cross
R4GV county (The Horsleys) and borough councillor (Lovelace)
In response to: You Can Fool a Lot of the People, a Lot of the Time
We are on the eve of the minister’s decision as to whether the £300+ million will be spent on the A3/M25 junction 10 upgrade. Will the project get the final go-ahead after several delays?
Hopefully, he will be convinced that this will be a waste of taxpayers’ money when a few minor improvements costing a fraction of this budget would suffice.
But this will be unlikely to include all the work at Wisley and at Ockham roundabout and it will hugely undermine TWs highways improvement prerequisites on the A3.
Ben Paton should pray that the minister finally sees the light and TW will be left in the dark.
And what then for “Ockham New Town”?
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Responses to Letter: We Are on the Eve of the Junction 10 Decision
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Ben Paton
May 11, 2022 at 5:31 pm
The works on J10 were intended to ameliorate the traffic on the junction during rush hour. However, Highways England’s own projections show that within 10 years the traffic congestion will be back to present conditions.
In 2017, the unsustainable new town at the former Wisley airfield stated that it would cause “severe and adverse” effects on the flow of traffic on the A3. To mitigate for the new town Highways England stated that a new lane would be required on the southbound A3 from the M25 to the BP petrol station.
Wisley Property Investments refused to agree to pay for the work. Instead, it offered to make a contribution to the cost of the J10 works. The J10 project manager has stated that Highways England’s position has not changed since it opposed the last planning application and that it has not budgeted for any contribution to costs from Highways England.
If the new town goes ahead and Taylor Wimpey does not pay the full cost of mitigating the negative effect of its development it will be a shocking example of public finances being used to facilitate private profit.
Bibhas Neogi
May 11, 2022 at 10:55 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Secretary of State delays the J10 improvement yet again. Considering the fact the Treasury now has too many contenders for funds, road improvements no doubt would be at the back of the queue.
In my view, this would not be a bad thing and should give Highways England time to re-examine the proposed scheme. The option that keeps the M25 off-slips separated from the A3 on-slips to the M25 would be a safer design.
Highways England (HE) had explored such an option using high-level viaducts but rejected it as environmentally too disruptive as well as being too expensive. HE did not explore an option that achieves the same objective but uses two short tunnels under the A3 and two M25 underpasses.
This latter option would be environmentally less disruptive and I believe it could save a substantial sum (up to £50 million).
HE was intimated about such an option but said it was too late in the day to reopen all the consultations on environmental issues. They also said they were not sure about the suitability of the ground conditions for tunnelling (even though their invert levels would be at about 16-17 meters below the A3).
If the scheme were delayed again, perhaps Highways England would give serious consideration to exploring this alternative option.
Helen Jefferies
May 12, 2022 at 2:01 pm
I’m surprised that the National Highways still says the cost of the project is £250-£300 million. It was £250 million when they started and since then they’ve added the Wisley Lane diversion and the bridge over the A3 neither was on the radar when the project started.
It seems that this must be the only building project in the country where costs have decreased. Everyone else paying higher material costs and higher labour costs. What’s their secret or has the budget just not been revisited.
I hope that the SoS had the correct information when he made his decision. The country cannot afford another HS2 or Elizabeth Line budgeting fiasco.
Helen Jefferies is a member of the Wisley Action Group.