The below letter is in the process of being delivered to residents on Chipstead Valley Road and surrounding roads.
We are as appalled as anyone at the consequences on residents, motorists and pedestrians of the recent sewage problems on Chipstead Valley Road and the surrounding area.
ACTION TAKEN
As your local councillors, alongside Chris Philp MP, we have been lobbying for measures to prevent such problems which are a major health hazard.
We were first made aware of the leak at approximately 6am on Saturday 5th June. We immediately contacted both Thames Water and Croydon Council to request urgent deployment of a specialist clean-up crew. They arrived just after 9am and began the extensive cleaning of impacted areas as well as internal and external vehicle cleaning.
We have stressed the need for urgent action to prevent such a situation happening again. This is the fourth time this year that Chipstead Valley Road has been affected in this way, and the response thus far has simply not been good enough. We have therefore demanded a full investigation and we are pleased that one is currently taking place.
The sewage network in the area is complex and includes a local network and a larger, trunk sewer. It is within the local network that the previous issues have occurred. The issues last weekend appear to be related to the trunk sewer that travels through the area and eventually feeds into the sewage treatment works.
Thames Water’s initial investigation hasn’t revealed a single cause, so their investigations have therefore progressed to the surveying of an extensive length of this trunk sewer, around 1000 meters in total, which has taken place over several nights this week. The surveying can only take place over night when flows are at low levels to allow engineers to get a clear picture of the pipe. They expect to complete these surveys by the end of this week, for analysis by a specialist team early next week.
We are in the process of co-ordinating a meeting between Croydon Council, Surrey County Council, local MPs and Thames Water that will take place next week. At this meeting we will go through Thames Water’s findings and will insist on working with all stakeholders to develop a long-term plan to resolve this repeat problem.
COMPENSATION
Over and above preventative measures, we are strongly calling for compensation for residents and others who have suffered damage to property, gardens and vehicles. You can pursue compensation yourself by visiting https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/customer-commitment
If you are willing to provide us with any evidence of the scale of the problem that we can use to strengthen our case for urgent action and call for your compensation please do e-mail us using [email protected].
WIDER CULPABILITY
We believe it likely that the problems were not caused solely as a result of inaction by Thames Water. Croydon Council also have a responsibility. For years we have told the Council that overdevelopment in Coulsdon is putting too much pressure on local infrastructure but our warnings have fallen on deaf ears.
It is also possible that poor building control of inappropriate waste is being deposited into our sewage system. That combined with some residents flushing incorrect items down their drains could be contributing to the repeat local sewage issues.
We will of course keep you informed as our work to resolve this on our website: www.croydonconservatives.com/coulsdonsewageleak.
Please do contact any one of us if we can help further with this or any other local issue.
Kind regards,
Cllr Luke Clancy: [email protected]
Cllr Mario Creatura: [email protected]
Cllr Ian Parker: [email protected]
