RHS response to Highways England plans
From the Royal Horticulural Society
We are absolutely delighted (November 2017) that Highways England’s preferred option to widen the A3 will not land grab 10,000 sq. metres of woodland, which would have destroyed more than 500 important trees from RHS Garden Wisley.
We are very grateful for the immense support we’ve received nationally to save these important trees and our huge thanks go to the 130,000 people who signed our etition to save RHS Garden Wisley and to Alan Titchmarsh who helped champion this cause.
However, we are concerned that the proposed plans could still threaten the future of Wisley and we welcome the invitation to continue working with Highways England (HE) to find a solution to some of the proposed access routes to the garden.
We are disappointed that HE’s current proposals remove all connection from Wisley Lane to the A3 (without suitable replacements we have been seeking), which would then result in an additional seven miles journey for some visitors. All visits to Wisley would be subject to increased travel time as a consequence of the preferred route, which would put some people off visiting and could harmfully impact the charitable income of the RHS.
We have already provided HE with a scheme that achieved their objectives relating to safety and congestion and also wouldn’t impact RHS Garden Wisley. While overall the current HE proposals will help to reduce general traffic delays, our proposals would add further benefits and reduce overall travel distances on the A3.
The immense support we’ve received nationally, and the offers to help us protect our garden for the future have been extraordinary. We will continue to work to protect RHS Garden Wisley and ask HE to seriously consider other viable options, which would provide much simpler access to Wisley, reduce travel distances and avoid diverting traffic through Ripley.
With thanks
We’re so delighted more than 500 important historical trees have been saved, thank you so much Alan Titchmarsh (pictured above right) and everyone who supported our Campaign.
This content is created from https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/Articles/Wisley-under-threat-from-A3-plans/rhs-response-to-highways-england