Wimbledon Town & Dundonald Lib Dems

Cllr Anthony Fairclough, Cllr Simon McGrath and Cllr Paul Kohler: Working hard for Wimbledon, Raynes Park & Wimbledon Chase. Learn more

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Drainage works on the Chase

by Wimbledon Town & Dundonald Lib Dems on 23 March, 2021

Many of you will be familiar with flooding on the footpath and cycle lane on the Chase, near the side entrance to Wimbledon Chase Primary School – especially after rain!

Although this has been a longstanding problem, residents wrote to Cllr Anthony Fairclough in March 2020, asking if anything could be done.

Cllr Fairclough spoke with both Thames Water (the owners of the land) and Merton Council, and after initial reluctance was told:

Further to your correspondence with [Merton’s Highways Department] regarding the flooding on The Chase footpath outside of Wimbledon Chase Primary School, we have begun investigating this …. Notwithstanding this we are looking at remedial works that can manage/mitigate the flooding occurring here and are currently in correspondence with Thames Water regarding this. Once talks have advanced and we have a better idea of a realistic scheme that can be implemented we will be able to give likely costs for such.

Several conversations later, by September 2020, Cllr Fairclough was pleased to receive a notification that agreement had been reached between Merton and Thames as to the drainage work that needed to be completed. The works were based on other drainage work that had been successful at another site:

We now have an agreement in principle from Thames Water for a connection of an overflow pipe from a sustainable urban drainage scheme (SUDs) solution into their surface water sewer that runs beneath this path. In order to satisfy the requirements of Thames Water we are currently looking at a similar SUD scheme that was delivered for Tamworth Road as it has functioned as planned in rainfall events. The intention is to mimic this scheme as close as possible considering the difference in site characteristics.

Now that there is an agreement of what can be installed the next step is to write a brief for a quote to be provided by FM Conway. After this we will be able to give a date on when it is expected to be built.

Much chasing later, in December 2020 a broad date for the work had been scheduled – February 2021 – and the works eventually began and were completed almost a year to the date they were first reported, in March 2021.

A ‘rain garden’ was the finishing touch (although we understand there’s only limited maintenance been agreed).

Separately, something that Cllr Simon McGrath has to do each year is chase Thames Water about the maintenance of the grass verge. Recently they told us:

I have now spoken with our community projects team and to offer some initial reassurance, we are deliberately choosing not to leave the entire area uncut to avoid complaints about it looking untidy. The pathways and narrow edge strips should give the area a much more managed appearance. … my community projects colleague, Claudia Innes, would be more than happy to serve as a direct line for your residents on this issue should you receive any complaints in the coming months. Claudia can be reached at [email protected] or on 0203 5773148 and will be best placed to talk residents through our thinking here, and adapt these plans if the mood changes.

Many thanks to everyone who got involved and everyone who wrote to the Council!

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