‘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.
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