Cllrs Samir Dwesar (Purley & Woodcote) and Gayle Gander (Kenley) attended a public meeting organised by BAM for Network Rail and Croydon Council’s Network Management Officer, Jackie Edgerton at Reedham Tennis Club this week. The meeting was for residents to share their views on the proposed options for the Old Lodge Lane bridge repairs, which will impact residents for several weeks.
The options presented to residents can be found here, and our previous note is here.
Residents strongly opposed the first option which would see full-day closures for 12 weeks. As local councillors, we agreed that the impact on residents from commuters to local schools and the elderly would be too huge. We are pleased that this has been ruled out by the Council.
There was a split with around half of the attendees supporting option two (weekend closures lasting eight weeks) and option three (night closures lasting twelve weeks). We see the pros and cons of both options. A night closure would be the least disruptive for the majority, but we are very concerned about the noise impact this would have on residents in close vicinity to the bridge, particularly those on Watney Close with up to 90 decibels cited as a possibility. At the same time, we recognise that weekend closures would impact the Old Lodge Lane businesses.
We discussed the possibility of a hybrid option, with the noisier works taking place over a couple of weekends and then switching to night closures for the quieter works. BAM will consider this option and come back to Jackie and the councillors on whether this is viable.
We were told that there are two different methods for this refurbishment. The method the weekend closure uses provides a guarantee of 25 years for further refurbishment whereas the night closures will provide a 15 year guarantee.
The 455 bus will be diverted and BAM are in discussions with TfL. One thing residents have suggested is for Tesco to put on a shuttle bus which has been done during previous closures. Jackie will investigate this further.
BAM are hoping to start the refurbishment at the end of March meaning the Council should ideally make a decision by next week what option they should pursue. If you have a view on which option you would prefer, please email [email protected] and [email protected] and we will ensure comments are passed on.
