Plan Submitted to Open Up Kew Bridge Archway

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If approved will provide step free access along Thames Path

The Arches under Kew Bridge. Picture: Google Streetview

The long delayed scheme to open up one of the arches under Kew Bridge is a step closer to realisation.

A planning application (P/2020/2743) has been submitted by Hounslow Council to strip-out and fit-out Arch 3 to create a step free public thoroughfare. The archway was previously used as a sales and information centre however has been vacant for over a year.

This application proposes to remove the existing internal alterations put in around 2010 and temporarily remove the external doors to convert this arch into a pedestrian walkway. CCTV cameras would be added (one on each end) for security purposes. The existing timber doors are to be taken down and stored on site under proposed new low level walls.

At present, pedestrians can cross Kew Bridge at either road level or via a stepped walkway under an open archway closer to the river.

Given that the doorways at either-end of the archway will remain at 2m wide, for security purposes, low level splayed walls will be inserted into the corners in order to remove the hidey-holes. These walls will have sloped top shelves and faced in solid grade laminate to discourage littering and rough sleepers in the thoroughfare.

Strand-on-the-Green Residents’ Association has been requesting this change for many years but initially TfL, which owns the arches, was resistant.

A public consultation was held in March of this year which received 118responses with the majority of the respondents favouring a lower cost simpler option for opening up the arch.

August 21, 2020