Cllr Jane Law is a councillor for Sands End Ward

I am delighted – as a Sands End councilor – that there seems to be agreement between the parties to support and campaign for the siting of a Crossrail 2 station at Imperial Wharf in my ward.

Furthermore, unlike the Kings Road site, there is overwhelming public support for the Imperial Wharf option as well.

Sands End has had large scale developments in the recent past and is expected to undergo significant amounts of further regeneration in the future. Even with the successful delivery of the overground station at Imperial Wharf by the last Administration the transport infrastructure in Sands End is in desperate need of upgrading.

The main transport spine of Sands End is the A217 – more commonly known as the Wandsworth Bridge Road.

Figures from the Department of Transport show – that in the 12 months to September 2015 (the latest figures available) the speed of traffic on the Wandsworth Bridge Road suffered the greatest fall in speed of any road in West London – a fall of 35.8%.

We don’t need a 20mph speed limit as the average speed is just…………..7mph.

I am sure that I do not need to state that this crawling traffic contributes significantly to poor levels of air quality and health outcomes for my residents.

The congestion on the Wandsworth Bridge Road will only get worse once the unwanted and unloved Thames Tideway Tunnel aka the Super Sewer, construction gets underway after Easter.

A new station at Imperial Wharf would also relieve congestion on the Wimbledon branch of the District line – the most heavily congested section of the whole of the underground network. In engineering terms, changing the route of Crossrail 2 – to Imperial Wharf – we have been informed, will actually lead to faster journey times as the route would actually be straighter that if a station were sited on the Kings Road.

Mike Brown, the TfL Commissioner, has stated that the proposal is ‘being seriously considered’. We – as a council – must ensure TfL is in absolutely no doubt that – along with residents – that this Council is fully supportive of the proposal for a Crossrail 2 station to come to Imperial Wharf.

A former member of this council once stated that ‘a tide of concrete is sweeping through Sands End’. Whilst we welcome the opportunities that regeneration will bring, we need to ensure the proper infrastructure is in place to support the new jobs and the new residents that regeneration brings.

A Crossrail 2 station at Imperial Wharf will vastly improve the quality of life of present and future Sands End residents. There surely can be few duties of a Local Authority more important than improving its residents’ quality of life.