‘If an adult was to slip, trip or fall into it… they would not be able to escape. A child would have absolutely no chance of surviving’

Slurry pit: the steep-sided, deep pool on farmland near New Addington now contains a toxic sludge that residents are concerned would be impossible to escape

Serious concerns are being raised by residents about the dangers around a large slurry pit that has been dug just outside New Addington.

Slurry pits are reservoirs built on farmland to collect and store liquid manure, urine, bedding material and wash water from livestock buildings, where the by-products are stored before being utilised on the land as natural fertiliser.

The new pit is reckoned to be about half the size of a football pitch. It has been dug just across the borough boundary, in Bromley, off Layhams Road on the land of Wickham Court Farm, near a National Grid sub-station at Rowdown.

A farm track into the field has been upgraded with hard core, it is suggested to allow tankers to truck slurry in, so that it might be stored for use on the surrounding arable fields.

Industrial scale: it is thought that the slurry is trucked in by tanker

Croydon councillors last year lodged objections to any trucks driving through New Addington with their toxic sludge.

The pit has been dug entirely legally, on private land, so anyone approaching it will have encroached on farmland.

A petition was raised last year, when Bromley Council expressed its support for residents’ concerns, while Croydon Council opted not to oppose the pit’s construction. “Our councillors are well aware of the project, and unless the material is being transported via Mickleham Way, there is very little we can do now,” one petitioner wrote this week.

New Addington locals remain worried that the pit might represent a hazard to life if anyone falls into it.

Arable farm: there are no warning signs or fences around the steep-sided pit

The levels in the pit are especially high at present, following the weeks of steady rainfall across southern England.

“There is no fencing surrounding it, no warning signs and no life-saver rings,” one New Addington resident wrote on social media. “The sides are extremely steep and muddy.

“If an adult was to slip, trip or fall into it, even if they survived a lung-full of the toxic sludge, they would not be able to escape. A child would have absolutely no chance of surviving.”

The genuine concerns are being raised now, just ahead of school half-term, when children might roam around the local countryside and put themselves at risk.

Inside Croydon – If you want real journalism, delivering real news, from a publication that is actually based in the borough, please consider paying for it. Sign up today: click here for more details

PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

• As featured on Google News Showcase

• We offer FREE ads to community groups when they have members who are paid subscribers to Inside Croydon

• Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here

• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups

• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network