The Beckenham road that has turned into a mass of ‘mini ponds’

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

An unpaved street in Beckenham that turns into a quagmire of mud, potholes and puddles when it rains have pleaded for something to be done ‘before a toddler drowns’ in the deep pond-like menaces.

Local residents feel the issue has been made worse by parents dropping their kids off to the local school as it causes ever bigger pools of water on the unpaved road which shifts and sinks with the weight of car tyres.

Westgate Road has seen puddles get wider and deeper in recent years – so much so that supermarket delivery drivers have to avoid it.

Melanie Packwood, 74, who lives in a cul-de-sac off Westgate Road said: “Now it is a much, much worse problem. I mean, there were puddles before and they were perhaps 10 centimetres deep. You can see it’s much more than that now and they are much, much wider.

“I actually find that when I invite people over I say to them, ‘Please, park on one of the roads and walk the rest of the way in your oldest clothes and welly boots’, because you don’t want the problem of washing mud off.”

Westgate Road is an unadopted road, meaning that Bromley council has no obligation to maintain the street despite being the highways authority for it.

The matter is further complicated by Lewisham council owning a portion of the road that runs alongside Beckenham Place Park. Ms Packwood said the authority previously contributed to the upkeep of the road due to the presence of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, but said that this ceased after the school was turned into an academy in 2014.

Ms Packwood said residents have historically contributed financially to maintaining and repairing the road, but many stopped after the council and school paused their payments. She added that traffic outside the school increased significantly in the 1990s when it expanded.

Ivan Bailey, 63, said he feels most parents should not drive their children to school if they can help it and felt closing off the road entirely with permit-only parking could improve matters.

He said: “I was thinking:  How on earth do people drive along here?”

Another resident said: “If I had my granddaughter here today, if I lived on this road, I would be nervous about her crossing the road. It’s deep enough for a toddler to drown in if they were unaccompanied. I think that the little ponds are big enough for ducks and maybe tadpoles. Maybe we can rewild the road.”

Westgate Road Residents’ Association said the road was nearly exclusively used by parents of children at St Mary’s and by visitors of Beckenham Place Park. They added that financial contributions from residents do not currently meet the required repair costs for the road given its usage.

Robin Hoyles, chairman of governors for St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, said: “The school has actively engaged with residents, councillors and members of the council’s highways department for many years and continues to do so. The school made a financial contribution when the road was last repaired in 2018 and has offered a similar contribution on several occasions recently.”

Bromley and Lewisham councils have been approached for comment.

Pictured top: Ivan Bailey, who said closing off the road could be a viable option (Picture: Joe Coughlan)