Manor Lane must be one of the busiest roads through our area.  Many residents will use it to reach the South Circular or to head down towards Lee High Road.  It’s also used as a rat-run by many motorists.

Recently, some residents approached the local Lib Dem team, concerned that the various speed limit signs the Council has put in are contradictory.  Sure enough, signs at the entrance to Manor Lane from the South Circular tell you you’re entering a 20MPH zone – which you are.  But drive up Manor Lane towards the South Circular, and just before you hit the railway bridge, the round signs painted on the road tell you you’re entering a 30MPH zone.    They also said you were entering a 30MPH zone if you were driving towards Manor House Gardens!

We took this up with the Council, and asked that all the signs were inspected and corrected.  They’ve altered the sign painted on the road at one side – so it says the limit is 20MPH heading towards the park.  But they haven’t altered the sign painted on the road as you head to the South Circular.  So we seem to have a situation where if you’re heading north on Manor Lane, the limit’s 20, and if you’re heading south towards the South Circular, the limit’s 30 once you reach the railway bridge. <

This is an unacceptable state of affairs, so we’ve gone back to the Council and asked them to finish the job!

We’ve been busy reporting pot holes since the big freeze, but the biggest one we’ve found is in Northbrook Road, where the whole carriageway seems to have given way outside number 23.

The Council tell us their contractors went out to repair it last Thursday, but as they started to dig, even more of the road collapsed.  A detailed investigation is now promised, and repairs will be undertaken once this is complete.

If anyone has any ideas what’s caused this, or knows of a bigger pothole in Lee Green, do let us know!

Work will start on Tuesday (23rd Feb) to resurface Birch Grove (just off the South Circular).   Work should take about 3 days and will only take place between 8am and 5pm.

The contractors are Volker Highways.  If there are any problems, please contact Brian Humphris at the Council on 8314 2261 or his colleague Samantha McKerell on 8314 2181.

A number of residents on Brightfield Road have complained to us about lorries arriving to visit the Northbrook School construction site before 8am in the morning, in breech of the agreed delivery times.  In fairness to the site managers, Costain, they have erected signs at the end of the road to tell drivers not to do this, but obviously they have been ignored.

I raised this issue with the project team at a meeting with them on Thursday night.  They have kindly agreed to take this up with their suppliers to avoid this happening again.

Should this be a problem in future, this can be reported to Costain’s Project Manager, Clive Kraus, on 8297 1032 or e-mail clive.kraus {at} costain(.)com

Please do also let your local councillors know. We have a monthly meeting with the project team and can raise issues like this on residents’ behalf.

Finally, Costain are holding a drop-in session for local residents from 2pm on Friday 26th February – simply turn up at the Brightfield Road site entrance if there’s an issue you’d like to raise. I understand the intention is to continue these drop-in sessions once a fortnight at the same time.

According to the Council, Cambridge Drive is being resurfaced this week – work’s expected to take about 5 days.

Hopefully this won’t cause too many problems, but if it does, or if you’d like more info, contacts at the Council are Brian Humphris on 8314 2261 or Samantha McKerell on 8314 2181.

Now the snow’s melted, the damage the freeze has caused to our roads and water mains is clear.  Sven and I spent some time today identifying pot holes, damged road surfaces and water leaks so we can report them to the Council or Thames Water as appropriate.   There are plenty about – including on Manor Park, Staplehurst Road, Fernbrook Road, Manor Lane, St Mildred’s Road, Upwood Road, Micheldever Road, Lee High Road and Burnt Ash Road.

Whilst we were on Burnt Ash Road, we bumped into a member of staff from Thames Water, who was attending to a leaking main outside number 84 Burnt Ash Road, which Sven had already reported to them.  It’s good to see these reports are being acted upon.

If you do know of a pothole or leaking water main that needs attention, do let us know.  Potholes in particular can be dangerous for some road users, especially cyclists and motorcyclists.

Alternatively, you can report them directly.

• Potholes can be reported using the form on the Council website
• Damage to red routes (e.g. Lee High Road, Eltham Road, St Mildreds Road) can be reported to Transport for London
• Water leaks can be reported directly to Thames Water on 0800 714 614.