Something stinks at Croydon Arena.
The scene at a smelly Croydon Arena earlier today
There’s a very earthy nature to the whiffs that have been detected on the cold winter winds. It seems that one of the sewers under the car park which is used by the sports arena and the nearby school may have been broken.
Barely had the tarmac on the Arena’s car park dried than workmen appeared on site to dig it all up again.
The relaid and reconfigured car park has been annexed as part of the development of the 1,200-pupil Oasis Academy Arena school, which was imposed on locals and Metropolitan Open Land by the Town Hall Tories and barely opposed by the Labour ward councillors from South Norwood or Woodside.
The workmanship and the lack of care for the properties of neighbours and the Metropolitan Open Land by building contractors Willmott Dixon has been questioned throughout the £22 million, publicly funded project, which started in 2013.
And now, apparently as a final gesture of contempt for the people living in this part of South Norwood, the contractors appear to have left an open sewer.
“When Willmott Dixon left, a large puddle of water appeared. Smelling of poo. It’s a mess,” one local resident told Inside Croydon.
Another tells us that “the council were told of a collapsed sewer ages ago, but did nothing”. Which, of course, is merely rumour and surely cannot be true of the ever-vigilant local council when it comes to monitoring the work and performance of its contractors.
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The Council ceased to be responsible for foul sewers many years ago. Thames Water own and are responsible for them in Croydon.
Indeed, David. But the Arena car park is their property. And the school build was their project. The puddle of poo is their responsibility to ensure it gets fixed, whether by contractors or Thames Water.
Quite right. I was there last month and the so called “car park” was a disgrace. A quagmire of pot holes, rubbish and broken bottles. Didn’t smell anything obnoxious though, maybe the wind was in the wrong direction.