If you’ve left Lee Green up Dermody Road and over the railway bridge to Hither Green Lane in recent weeks, you’ve probably seen (or smelled!) the leak that’s been running down the hill from the junction at Courthill Road lately.

The good news is that following pressure from my Lib Dem colleague who represents that side of the railway line, Cllr Andrew Milton, the leak is to be fixed.   The bad news is, it’s going to mean closing Hither Green lane between Courthill Road and Ryecroft Road from Tuesday.

Andrew has the details of the closure here.    Of course, it’s also going to mean the 181 and 225 bus need re-routing - again, Andrew has the details here.

As locals will know, bus route 202 is the Crystal Palace - Blackheath Royal Standard service that passes through Lee Green along St Mildreds Road and Burnt Ash Hill/Road.

The contract to operate the route has recently come up for tender, and TFL have awarded it to Metrobus - it’s currently operated by Selkent.   New single deck buses have been ordered, but as they mightn’t be available for the start of the contract in November, Metrobus propose using some double-decker buses at first.

So far, so good.   But TFL haven’t made the changes we were after.   They’ve considered raising the frequency, but decided it “can’t be justified at the present time”.   And really disappointing is their comment that they’ve “considered requests for this service to be extended from Blackheath Royal Standard to either the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or North Greenwich. No changes are proposed at this stage.”

This is really disappointing - one of the most frequent requests we get from residents is for a bus direct from Lee Green to Greenwich (or even better, to North Greenwich tube station via Greenwich itself).    I’ve taken this up in the past with TFL and have been told that they take my point, but don’t have any plans at present.   It’s disappointing that at tender stage, when they’ve had a great chance to make changes, they’ve chosen not to.

I’m going to speak to my Lib Dem colleagues at the London Assembly and see what they advise.

Residents along Southbrook Road will be aware that Transport for London proposed earlier this year to install fixed stops along their road to serve the 273 route.

Following objections from residents, the plans for Southbrook Road have now been revised.    Stops will now be situated outside the Northbrook pub and the small industial estate opposite, with no stops outside residents’ homes.   Southbrook Road residents should receive a letter from TfL to this effect in due course.  

Unfortunately retaining the hail and ride system is apparently not an option, as this is being removed right across London.

Stops along Fernbrook Road will now be located:

• Opposite Hither Green Station where the timetable frame is now (Petts Wood direction)
• Just west of the junction with Fernbrook Crescent (230b) (Petts Wood direction)
• Outside the Manor Cafe (Petts Wood direction)
• Outside 65/67 (Lewisham Direction)
• Opposite 68a (Lewisham Direction)
• Directly outside Hither Green Station (Lewisham direction)

Manor Park will proceed pretty much as planned, with an additional set of stops to be located on Staplehurst Road in the area people use at present to board and alight.  

We’ve heard from SouthEastern that the footpath at Lee Station from the Sidcup-bound platform down to Burnt Ash Road is to be resurfaced tomorrow between 9am and 4pm.

This is great news, as it’s been in quite a state for some time, and was raised by several people in our Lee Station rail user’s survey earlier this year.

An early start on Wednesday - following our Hither Green Rail Survey last year, we decided the time had come to ask rail users at Lee what they think of their service.   I braved the mist with Paul and also Cllr Paul Webbewood, who represents Middle Park & Sutlcliffe, the Greenwich Council ward which adjoins Lee Green.   Lots of Paul’s constituents use Lee station, too.

Once again, commuters were keen to give us their views, and we’ve had over 100 surveys back already, which is great.   I’ll reply to everyone who provided a name and address and let you know how we’re taking up your concerns.   Overcrowding is clearly a big issue on the Sidcup line, and I’ve already got a question in to our next meeting with TFL and SouthEastern about this.

If you’d like to give us your views, it’s not too late - contact me if you’d like a copy of the survey.

I’ve recently been helping a consituent who was concerned about rubbish on the railway embankment opposite the houses on the stretch of Fernbrook Road between Staplehurst and Fernbrook Crescent.

Network Rail tell me they cleared the embankment yesterday, and have provided me with some useful numbers which you can use to report issues like this:

You can call Network Rail  24/7 on 08457 114 141.  The helpdesk should give you a reference number which can then be quoted if you need an update.   Apparently all complaints directed through this route are monitored on progress by Network Rail, so they reckon this is the quickest way to get through to the correct dept.   However, it doesn’t include stations which are the responsibility of the train operating company - in our case, SouthEastern.

There’s also the British Transport Police number, which you can use to report railway crime on 0800 405040 .

Of course, you can always contact us too!