RHS Garden Wisley faces £6m loss due to roadworks impacting visitor numbers

RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey says it has already lost £6m thanks to a 25 per cent drop in the number of visitors and expects to lose a further £5m by 2026.

The charity claims a £317m improvement scheme to the A3/M25 has led to 350,000 fewer people coming to the site with ‘devastating’ financial consequences.

Eight out of ten members who visited less often over the last 12 months blamed the roadworks –as did 63 per cent of non-members.

The RHS – which was gifted the garden in 1903- says the loss of income will take years to recover and has already forced it to delay developing new arboretums and the planting of 4000 trees.

Funding for scientific research and community and training programmes are also facing cuts.

It wants compensation so the at-risk projects can go ahead.

The charity – along with TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh – has now launched a petition urging the Government to recognise Wisley as a ‘special case’ for compensation.

Titchmarsh said:“These losses are catastrophic not only for the RHS, but for the whole of the UK in terms of the incredible work the RHS does to help people and planet and educating and supporting millions of gardeners to garden more sustainably for a better future.

“With the £6 million losses the RHS could have created 15 NHS wellbeing gardens and brought gardening and nature to hundreds more schools across the UK.

“£6 million would also fund 110 horticultural apprenticeships or 38 science PhD students supported by 76 UK leading scientists to find nature-based solutions to help issues like pollution, flooding and the biodiversity and the climate crises.

“Unlike others that failed before it, this Government must recognise the importance of horticulture, of gardeners and of the immense positive benefits gardens, gardening and growing plants can have on our health, the environment, wildlife, and biodiversity to safeguard the future for generations to come.

“Every gardener, everyone who loves gardening and everyone who loves RHS Garden Wisley, one of our finest gardens, please sign our petition and stand up for our nation of gardeners.”

Wisley contains one of the world’s largest plant collections, with over 25,000 different species, and is the most horticultural diverse RHS Garden.

Hundreds of students are trained there and over a million visitors normally enjoy the garden each year.

RHS Director General, Clare Matterson CBE said: “The Highways compensation laws are complicated and unlikely to enable the RHS to recoup these devastating losses.

“If there was ever a special case for compensation surely RHS Wisley stands out as a national treasure that needs to be upheld and prized and our charitable work as vital to be protected.

“Whilst we’re grateful for the new road and the positive difference it is now beginning to make following months of disruption….it continues to be a flawed solution that increases car miles around J10 by some 1 million kilometres per annum.

“We continue to believe circular routing could have been avoided, saving these increased car miles, by creating slip roads off the A3.”

The A3/M25 works began in September 2022, and since then there have been dozens of road closures, disruption and traffic issues.

A further closure will be in place again this weekend and the scheme is not now due to finish until next year.

National Highways says Junction 10 – the busiest section of the M25- has a very poor safety record with one of the highest collision rates across the network. It insists improvements will reduce delays, smooth traffic flow and create safer journeys.

But Ms Matterson said: “The RHS has been here supporting gardeners for over 220 years,

“We now need your help to safeguard this charity for hundreds of years to come.”

To sign the petition visit rhs.org.uk/a3petition