Day 3 of the "Environmental Crime Scene"

I wonder how long it will sit there with tape on it before it gets cleaned away?

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Diabolical!

I reported a similar one on Dartmouth Road yesterday - after watching the guys in a Lewisham fly-tip truck slow down to look at it then drive away

I’m on Fix-My-Street every week for the regular fly-tips outside No.63

I’ve also been onto the Highways Dept about the sunken cobbled sections along the road because when buses and other large vehicles hit the bump it shakes the buildings and wakes my tenants up in the night - ALSO I suspect that the the original contractors didn’t do a robust-enough job back in 2017 and they should be liable to re-do it properly under maybe a 10 year guarantee?




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The amount of poor workmanship what is never resolved is ridiculous. Such a waste of money letting contractors get away with it. That section of cobble has been horrible from a year or so in, but getting worse and worse.
As for the fly tipping, there are some terrible and regular spots for it, surely worthy of putting up some temp cameras to catch those responsible for it.

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Yes, and this is why I’ve pressed James Mills in Highways. He then copied our conversations in to BusinessSupportHighways but that fell on deaf ears as well.

I wonder if @Fergus_NB might be interested in the road issue? I’d hope that our councillors would want to hold the contractors to account for this botch job that’s causing a nuisance and, potentially, highways safety issues to local residents.

By the way Snazy and all, please forgive me for diverting this thread and going a bit off-topic.

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I have been reporting these brick ‘crossings’ for some time, including with the previous councillors. It is such a shame. They work fine for the pavement but are not bedded in well enough to take the traffic weight, especially with all the bus traffic on that road.

As for the rubbish, that Dartmouth Tandoori is a well known issue too, and needs to be properly resolved too (the shop next door is reporting them regularly). I’m a bit more sympathetic to the pile on Stanstead Road as they will probably have it grabbed and taken away all together (I believe the core of this is construction rubbish to do with the refurbishment of the flats above the old music store). However, it has been there so long that it seems it is also attracting fly-tipping so needs removed now.

Such a shame to see our streets in this state :frowning:

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We had a similar issue on the South Circular outside our house for around 5 years (!!) or so following poor repairs from the gas mains work.

I (finally) managed to speak to a TfL inspector (that happened to be doing other work in the area) who told me that the rule of thumb (if not legal requirement) is that any depression of more than 40mm counts as a safety issue that needs to be rectified within hours (not weeks or years).

Reporting this, and sharing an image of the depth of the depression (using a straight line on the surface and a measure of the depth), resulted in a quick repair which has been transformative for our house and all neighbours.

I wonder whether someone could do a similar measurement (safely)?

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No problem at all, it’s good to have a thread where issues like this that require escalation can be discussed. IMO anyway.

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That’s really helpful to know. :ok_hand:

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Good shout!

I’ve just emailed James Mills and copied Highways in again with the message below. James replied immediately to say that he’d put another chase in for me.

Hi James

I’m sorry to have to be bothering you with this again, but the other department never contacted me and my tenants are still being woken at night by noises and vibrations cause by vehicles hitting these road bumps; and it’s been exacerbated due to the heatwave causing restlessness and noise carrying through open windows for ventilation.

As I said before, I believe the original contractor should still be on the hook for repairs and the clock’s ticking, so it’s bordering scandalous that this is being totally ignored by Lewisham Council as it’s their Council Tax payers who’ll end up footing the bill if the contractor’s allowed to get away with it.

And meanwhile, my tenants continue to suffer and I get it in the ear.

I hope you understand.

Kind regards

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@JohnWard, thank you for flagging the road issue outside Forest Hill pools. I will raise this issue today as casework with our Highways team and see if there’s anything we can do to hold the original contractor here to account. I’ll also ask if the Council has made an assessment of potential safety risks here - and if not, ask for one to be conducted urgently.

I’m also well aware of that fly-tipping site on Stanstead Road - I walk past that spot pretty much every day. Since that location is in Crofton Park ward, I’m working with Councillor Lie to get it addressed.

Our enforcement team has visited the site and confirmed that most of the waste there is on private property. That means the Council can’t directly remove the waste itself; instead, we are issuing a Community Protection Warning (CPW) to the landowner, requiring the removal of the waste. If that is not acted on promptly, we will continue to escalate through the relevant legal channels.

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Thank you for your help with this Fergus - and I know my tenants and the wider community will appreciate it as well.

I have to admit to being a property owner who rents to residential and commercial tenants so I know that that and our politics more generally don’t align, but you and I both have the interests of the town of Forest Hill and its community at heart so I’m sure that we’ll be able to put our differences aside and maybe even find more common ground that we might expect when we get our heads together - hopefully very soon :crossed_fingers:

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@JohnWard - I am certain we have more shared interests than political differences, always happy to work with you on issues impacting Forest Hill residents and businesses!

Councillor Roberts and I are actually planning some dedicated outreach soon to high street business owners and landlords to better understand priorities and how the Council can best support an active high street. I’d love your perspective on this question, as I know how involved you are with the local community; will DM you about it soon.

On a separate note - @Snazy, I walked past the fly-tipping site on Stanstead Road this afternoon and am pleased to report it has now been taken care of :slight_smile:

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Awesome, thanks @Fergus_NB :ok_hand:

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All good Fergus - thank you.

If you give some notice on when you’re ready to hit the town I’ll talk to all of my lovely tenants to find out if there’s anything they’d like you to hear about, and I’m sure that the business owners in particular will be over the moon to know that you’re taking an interest.

I have to say that I feel encouraged by this new approach.

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