MT 106/127

Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross

Date range	1958-1964
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 106

Context

This file is one of six that form a series; the others are listed below.

Together these six files relate to proposals to upgrade the existing A305 Twickenham Road in Hanworth, south west London, between the Hope and Anchor pub and Sunbury Cross. This was supposed to have happened before the Second World War, being the next stage of the Great Chertsey Road, pushing the new arterial route further out into the countryside and bringing it fractionally closer to its never-reached destination of Chertsey. After the war there was something of a hiatus, but Middlesex County Council revived the project in the 1950s and proposed an on-line dualling project that was presumably similar to what had been drawn up in the thirties.

By the early 1960s the road onward from Sunbury was being proposed as a motorway, and it was known that this would therefore be a route into London from the national motorway network. From this point traffic forecasts begin moving sharply upwards and the scheme was revised several times, introducing first partial grade separation and then complete grade separation.

The GLC took over the scheme at their inception in 1965 and redrew it again in the late 60s, though no designs for the road as-built are here. They eventually got it built and open to traffic in 1973, shortly after the M3 opened, at which point it became part of the A316 and took the name Country Way.

This is a thick file of correspondence and paperwork, which contains the bulk of the useful written information in this set of six files. There are some letters and memos at the front dated from 1964. The file then works from the front to the back, unusually, with papers starting in 1958 and ending 1964. There are no document numbers which can make referencing specific items a pain.

There are letters here to show that, in January 1958, MCC requested a loan of £600,000 plus grant of £450,000 to build an extension of the Great Chertsey Road from H&A to Sunbury Cross. It would be D2, with a 120ft cross section, 24ft carriageways with space for later widening to 36ft, ending at Sunbury until it can be extended further. There's then a very sturdy wedge of papers relating to compulsory purchase of a whole series of properties on the existing road for this scheme.

In a letter dated 4 March 1960 from MCC to MOT, the County Surveyor says that Sunbury Cross had been suggested as a flyover but the MOT ruled this out in 1947, claiming a roundabout would handle all anticipated traffic; the letter is stressing that the roundabout must be well designed to cater for all seven converging roads and that a signal installation would not suffice. Other nearby papers suggest signals were a serious consideration.

By 1960, the word "motorway" is appearing on traffic forecasts for Sunbury Cross. In July that year, another letter between MOT departments says "without a plan it is most difficult to visualise either a roundabout or signals being satisfactory, particularly with a motorway entering the junction." Sure enough, by July 1961 the design has been amended and will now provide D3 throughout, flyovers at all junctions including Sunbury Cross, and pedestrian segregation. However, plan sheets in this and other files show designs halfway between these two points with only some junctions grade separated, including one with grade separation on the A305 but not at Sunbury Cross, where the M3 is shown stopping at a roundabout. By December 1962, the scheme is costed at £1,730,000.

At no stage has M3 east of Sunbury been considered. From HLG 159/2323 and other files we know the GLC also did not even consider this a possibility. We can therefore rule out the idea that

An envelope at the back of the file contains one small plan sheet, showing a proposed building, with the proposed A305 nearby. Unclear where or what date.

Links to other files

MT 106/126 Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross (1960-1967)

MT 106/128 Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross (1958-1964)

MT 106/129 Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross (1958-1964)

MT 106/130 Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross (1958-1964)

MT 106/131 Middlesex CC: Great Chertsey Road extension (A305) dualling between Hope and Anchor Public House and Sunbury Cross (1958-1964)

People with camera copies

None known.