Viney Road hole - getting bigger all the time . . .

A resident first contacted me about this big hole in Viney Road on 31st July, although the hole had been there for some time before that and he had contacted Lewisham Council on a number of occasions about it himself.

There was a pole sticking out of it from where the speed hump was broken (this has since been removed). The resident was also concerned that the yellow lines on the road had faded away and cars were parking in front of the flats, preventing emergency vehicle access to the buildings. This is a particular concern given that there was a serious fire in a block at Viney Road a few years back and one of the recommendations the Fire Brigade made afterwards was that access must be kept clear in front of the flats (they couldn't get close to the building on the day of the fire). The resident was also concerned at the level of commuter parking on Viney Road.

I logged all these concerns with the Council's housing casework team back in July (apparently this comes under housing, not highways). 44 days, 5 follow-up e-mails and several phone calls later I am still waiting for a response, let alone any action to repair the road. Each time I have been promised a response is forthcoming but still nothing as yet.

B3, who have recently taken over responsibility for most of the council housing stock in Ladywell are quite clear that Viney Road is the Council's responsibility. In fact, they were so concerned at the state of Viney Road prior to signing the contract that I understand their lawyers had a special meeting with the Council's legal team to clarify who would be responsible for the road. So Lewisham's Housing Department has been aware of the state of the road and its responsibility for it for some time yet hasn't done anything about it.

I don't normally go for the 'name and shame' approach on this blog, but the length of time it is currently taking to get a response, let alone action as a result of councillor casework enquiries, is ridiculous and incredibly frustrating for both councillors and residents bearing the brunt of Council inaction. Grr!

Update: The hole was finally sorted on 27th September and B3 are working on an action plan for the other issues around parking.