We’ve been waiting a long time for the flood alleviation at the bottom of Kenley Lane/Welcomes Road to take place. But, at last I do have some good news – a date has been secured for the works.
The flood alleviation together with some public realm works to improve the junction are scheduled to start on 9th January 2023 and will take approx. 8 – 10 weeks to complete (subject to no unforeseen circumstances). This will greatly improve the junction, and most importantly, get rid of the flooding.
To facilitate the works safely, there will be temporary traffic management in place (i.e. temporary traffic lights) and Kenley Lane/Welcomes Road will be closed to vehicular traffic. I don’t yet know how long the junction as a whole will be closed for and will provide an update once I have this news.
During the road closure, traffic will be diverted up Church Road and there are plans to install planing on certain sections of the road to make it suitable for use by heavy goods vehicles. Advance warning signs are due to be erected soon and a notification letter hand delivered to residents within the outlined area on the map below:
Additional works will take place at the junction of the Godstone Road with Hayes Lane (by the Co-op) which also very regularly floods.
Signs have gone up alerting people that resurfacing works are scheduled to commence on 13th January 2023. However, the proposed resurfacing works have now been suspended until the works to address the frequent flooding issue here has been addressed. The gullies were cleared a few weeks ago, but further investigation will take place due to the road still flooding. The council’s contractor (FM Conway) is visiting the site soon to undertake further investigation of the existing drainage infrastructure in order to ascertain the level of remedial works required.
Once the flood eluviation has been completed, the resurfacing works will commence, and the road will be closed. Once the date for the resurfacing works have been confirmed, amended signs will go up and all residents and businesses in the vicinity will be alerted with a letter drop two weeks before the resurfacing starts.
UPDATE 4th January:
Only the entry point to Kenley Lane & Welcomes Road will be closed. Valley Road is not affected by the works but is likely to be impacted by the temporary traffic lights in place.
The bus route will remain going along Valley Road, but there maybe some delays due to the temporary traffic lights.
The council's contractor has already assessed and installed planings on the necessary sections of Church Road, to make it suitable for all traffic.
With regards to parking at the building site by the station, there will be “No Waiting” signs and cones put in place. The contractor would also have Marshalls on site during the duration of the works to assist with the flow of traffic and safe movements of pedestrians.
I've asked for a map showing the closures & diversion routes and will post it here when I get it and also asked for a bit more clarity on the use of Church Road.
Additionally, drainage investigative works on Hayes Lane j/w Godstone Road have been scheduled for Friday 13th January between 9am & 2pm. Advance “No Waiting” signs are due to be erected on nearby lamp posts soon so that the contractors can get access to all of the gullies.
UPDATE 6th January
I have now received maps showing the diversion routes for Welcomes Road and Kenley Lane. Please see below. I realise that they are hard to see, so if you would like a pdf of the maps, please email me [email protected].
UPDATE 14th January
The diversion have caused issues, in particular for residents accessing via Church Road and I am working with council officers to introduce measure to ameliorate some of the problems. This includes better signage, traffic marshals, boarding for pedestrians, go-slow signage.
UPDATE
I provide weekly updates via email to people interested in the works. If you would like to be included, please email [email protected]
UPDATE 31 March 2023
I’d hoped that I didn’t need to provide any further updates on flooding at the bottom of Welcomes Road/Kenley Lane by Sycamores.
After water gathered there last week, I met with the Flood Works Officer on Wednesday to review the situation, which seems to be because of an issue with the large drain cover near Sycamores. I know that the water there is very bad this afternoon, which is pretty devastating after the disruption of the last few months.
A detailed investigation/cleaning of the drainage assets between Hayes Lane & Valley Road is scheduled to take place on Thursday 6th April to get to the bottom of the problem. The Flood Works Officer will be on site to oversee the works by the contractor.
UPDATE 1 APRIL 2023
I spoke to the council's Flood Works Officer and the following actions are being taken:
* Detailed investigation/cleaning of the drainage assets between Hayes Lane & Valley Road are scheduled to take place on Thursday 6th April, 2023
* Debris from Welcomes Road covered the new drains and the Waste Management Team have been asked to ensure the areas is swept frequently due to the flood risk
* the covers of the 2 gullies at the junction of Church Road with Valley Road will be released/replaced and arrangements made for the gullies to be cleaned to help capture rainwater before flowing onto Valley Road.
UPDATE 14 APRIL 2023
On 6th April the contractor cleaned/jetted the gullies and catchpits in the area that floods. However, there was one gully that was backfilling, and the source of the water could not be determined. The cleaning of the gully in question had to be aborted otherwise the water would have filled up the tanker thereby ending the investigative works. It is suspected that this problem could be the main cause of the flooding or contributing to it. The contractor will be returning to the site with a CCTV crew to undertake further investigation. Currently, the works are scheduled for 4th May 2023 but this is subject to a traffic management crew being available to provide support and help direct traffic while the works are taking place.
