A Rotherhithe resident is insisting the council must fix a ‘well-used’ path that she claimed floods ‘nearly every time it rains.’
Deal Porters Way path leads to and from Canada Water and is a ‘very busy route’, according to people who live there.
But when it rains, resident Allison Robertshaw, told us the whole path becomes dangerous and disrupts people’s journeys.
“You literally can’t get past it,” she told us. “Nearly every time it rains – it floods.”
“To take a different route you’re looking at fifteen more minutes, which is fine for people like me but not for people with mobility issues, or who are new to the area.”
Allison, who has lived in the area for over 20 years said the council is ‘well aware’ of the problem.
“Many of us have complained to councillors for years,” she explained. “You can tell they know it is a problem because they’ve done pointless things – that hasn’t worked to make the path walkable and safe in all weathers.”
She said this includes installing drains along the edges ‘that don’t work’ and putting gravel down a few years ago. “That was more effective but it wasn’t maintained,” she commented.
Recently, she said a sign has appeared from the council, advising people not to use the path in wet weather.
In response to the sign, Allison said: “This is unacceptable. The pathway needs to become accessible in all weather – it’s a very busy route.”
“Also, the council are telling us to walk and cycle more but at the same time they are making it hard for us to do so.”
We asked the council whether it had any plans to address this, given that it is a path many use daily.
In a statement, Councillor James McAsh, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Clean Air and Streets said: “We are aware of the ongoing flooding issue which continues after we resurfaced the path and replaced the drains.
“The cause of the flooding is down to the local landscape which causes water to drain onto the path following heavy rain and that will require wider flood alleviation works.”
Cllr McCash added: “In the meantime, we encourage locals to use alternative routes to and from Canada Water.”