I think we all know that the lower parts of Belvedere can be a pretty wet place, you only have to Google for
the images of people rowing themselves around town in 1953 and 1968 to see for
yourself. Network Rail found out the hard way when all their holes filled up with water while building Abbey
Wood station, sometimes when it wasn’t even raining. Keep well away from the
Asda car park too on wet days.
Network Rail solved their problem, or at least worked their way around it, by putting up a
Tide Table in their offices.
The subject came to a head again during and after Storm Ciara last weekend. Floods everywhere
especially along Abbey Road. Following up complaints on Twitter Bexley Council
seemed to be surprised. Why I do not know, they have been told about them often enough.
On 31st August 2011 Wilhelmina Drayton wrote to me and after introducing herself continued as follows…
I am investigating flooding reports within the borough.
I have looked at flooding reports for Abbey Road, and we have very few of
them, so I am interested in understanding more about where the nuisance
water occurs, along with the frequency and severity of the issues. We
are looking to build up a borough-wide picture of areas prone to flooding,
so that with the limited funding available we can prioritise schemes in
those areas most at risk.
I have added Abbey Road to my list of streets to visit when we have the next
heavy rain, so that I can see the issues for myself, but if you have any
information that you can share with me before that, it would be really
helpful. The majority of the flooding reports we have for that road
were made before 2005, and I believe that the road layout has altered since
then, due to a narrowing scheme in 2009.
If you have any information you could share with us - particularly
photographs, dates of flooding, or the extent of the water along the road,
I’d really appreciate it. I can send you a paper copy of a map for the
area for you to mark on where the ponding occurs if you wouldn’t mind doing
this? If so, please let me have your address. I have included an
image of the area if it would be easier for you to describe it instead.
The correspondence continued until November 2011 when Wilhelmina thanked me for various reports
and said the Council had logged them, visited the flooding sites and had photographic evidence.
She copied the correspondence to six Council officials. I know that Wilhelmina was still
working at the Council recently and probably still is. She has probably been let
down by her bosses because absolutely nothing has been done that addresses the flooding
problems except that the Crossrail works appear to have solved the
problem in Gayton Road which regularly made the station inaccessible.
Video sent to me by ֹ‘Konradc’. It gets better the further into it you get!