MT 139/212

Temporary flyover at Great West Road extension, Hogarth roundabout: construction of permanent flyover; liaison with local council

Date range	1964-1967
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 139

Context

This file deals with the preparatory work for the construction of the temporary flyover that still stands at the Hogarth Roundabout in west London, junction of the A4 and A316. Being in MT 139 it is mainly concerned with acquisition of property.

Much of this is a brouhaha, or possibly a to-do, over the houses on the south side of Dorchester Grove, which would be left standing in the original scheme and which the MOT could not buy. LB Hounslow objected multiple times and delayed the scheme, because the householders there would be stuck between the flyover and through traffic using their road, some of them with back gardens amputated from their property and a flyover in its place, and yet had no facility to have their property purchased. The MOT protested that they had no legal power to buy properties that are not actually on the line of the road.

Halfway through the file, and for reasons that are not immediately transparent, a valuation is done for the MOT that shows that the houses are worth peanuts.

The MOT then writes to LB Hounslow saying that their consultants have reappraised the scheme and designed a new layout for the east end of the flyover, which fixes an issue with the long span over the north side of the roundabout, and - coincidentally, gosh, who'd have thought it - will now encroach on, and require demolition of, all the houses on the south side of Dorchester Grove. Fancy that!

There are plans here showing the original scheme, where some of the houses would have remained standing; the revised scheme as-built where they were all demolished, and an undated plan labelled “max widening line 1961” seemingly showing a fragment of an earlier permanent flyover scheme, though without much detail of the junction.

Links to other files

MT 118/251 Hogarth (Feathers) Roundabout permanent scheme :proposal to take the Great West Road over Hogarth Roundabout by a permanent flyover; study by consulting engineers (3 parts) (1965-1967)

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a partial copy.