Lammas Park Road Plagued by Diversion Route Again

Residents petition council after one car hit three times

Collisions with parked cars on the road have soared during the diversion

May 16, 2024

Residents of Lammas Park Road are once again being plagued by a huge amount of extra traffic after their street was made a diversionary route.

Back in February we reported how works by Thames Water which required the closure of Culmington Road was resulting in a heavy flow of traffic which was being directed to use the narrow residential street. When cars are parked on each side, it is calculated there is just 2.5 metres clearance which compares to the 1.8metre width of the average car.

People living in the road made representations to both the water company and the council, but each responded that the diversion route was the responsibility of the other.

Despite these pleas, now that a nearby road is being dug up again for the fourth time in recent months, once more Lammas Park Road is the designated alternative route.

There has been a series of crashes on the street including a particularly bad one last Friday (10 May) which wrote off two cars belonging to residents of the road. One car has been hit three times by other vehicles since the diversion was put in place.

The first time the water utility needed to dig up the road on 22 January, ten residents reported damage to their cars as unsuitably wide vehicles tried to get past. There was also an incident where an ambulance had to rescue a stressed driver who couldn’t cope with reversing down the street due the heavy flow of traffic coming at her.

A petition about the issue, signed by over forty Lammas Park Road residents, has been sent to the council. It endorsed a letter sent by Nicholas Lane which warned of possible legal consequences for the council should the diversion be seen as a contributory factor in a death or injury.

One resident said, “Luckily once again nobody is physically hurt but the cost, heartache and impact on everyone's time is really totally avoidable if the Council would only see sense and not put diversion signs down our street. It's that simple.”

The diversion (shown right) is leading to unsuitable vehicles using the road

An Ealing Council spokesperson said, “The Lammas Park Road diversion was made by Thames Water without any input from Ealing Council as there was a need for immediate and urgent work to be undertaken. Our network inspector became aware that Church Lane was closed on Monday and that the diversion included Lammas Park Road. He immediately contacted Thames Water to ask them to alter the diversion, which they did.

“On Tuesday we asked Thames Water to remove the closure of Church Lane entirely as we became aware that Lammas Park Road was still being used as an unofficial diversion. We asked that the work be undertaken using temporary traffic lights instead, which would remove the need for any diversions.

“We will be writing to Thames Water to ask them to make every effort to use alternative diversion routes in the future, where appropriate and possible.”

Larger vehicles are having difficulty navigating the narrow residential street

We have asked Thames Water for comment.