Furious Twickenham residents are taking Richmond Council to the Ombudsman over a building scheme they say is "wrecking lives and endangering the safety of local school pupils".

Copthall Gardens Residents’ Association (CGRA) formed in November 2017 after plans for the T-junction at Clifden Road and Copthall Gardens were proposed. These plans eventually went ahead but residents are still angry at the changes.

The group called on the leader of the council, Gareth Roberts, to re-visit the £100,000 scheme, which focused on the building of a new junction in front of St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, which the group believes was rushed through by the previous administration.

Byron Young, chairmen of CGRA said: "Richmond is becoming the wild west of planning where normal consultation does not apply. These plans were done in haste and were not in anybody’s interest."

The group say the plans went ahead without a proper traffic survey or balanced consultation and has deflected traffic from other wider roads down their narrow street, which is frequently used by hundreds of school children.

Combined with what they described as a "lack of a proper road traffic management scheme for all of Twickenham on stadium event days", the group says it is destroying life in their road.

But Richmond Council has insisted its traffic assessments were in line with its policy, also pointing out that a review of the decision had been carried out following complaints.

Residents' warnings escalated after a five-car smash in the road caused by a speeding car.

The residents on Copthall Hall logged a complaint with the Ombudsman which has decided to investigate the case. The scheme at the heart of the controversy was a junction build-out in front of St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, which council officers claimed was carried out to improve safety.

But CGRA said that rather than improve safety it increased speeds outside school and resulted in more traffic. This has made the road "extremely dangerous for students".

A Richmond Council spokesperson said: “Safety measures to improve the crossing at Copthall Gardens were implemented following a public consultation which demonstrated support for the measures.

“Two Automatic Traffic Counts were conducted at the site after the scheme's implementation to monitor the impact of the changes, these found minimal impact to travel patterns but a significant improvement was seen in conditions for pedestrians and school children in the area.

“The scheme was drawn up by a qualified engineer, in line with the school’s travel plan, and went through two stages of checking by other officers. Following complaints, the scheme was further reviewed by two senior officers who found the decision taken on the implementation of the scheme was in line with the Council’s policies and of the highest standard.

“The Council is completely satisfied with the rigour of this process and stands by its decision wholeheartedly.”