In case anybody is wondering what’s happening with the roadworks in Warwick Park, WPARA have been asking Kent County Council for the past 18 months to do something about the surface water on the street and it’s finally resulted in some action. The first step was to clean out the drains. This proved difficult due to parked cars, but it also highlighted problems with the design of many of the older drains. These feature a ‘swan neck’ which blocks easily as the drain goes straight into a pipe which feeds into the main sewer. Leaves, twigs and other rubbish soon fills up the pipe. KCC identified a number for replacement with new drains which have a sump, the size of your dustbin and all the rubbish falls down into this and the water pipe to the sewer is at the top of the hole. This is the work that’s underway at several locations on Warwick Park at the moment. These new grates should not block as easily. They will still need cleaning out at regular intervals, but we’re hoping there will be less flooding of some of the road entrances. The acid test will be the corner of Roedean Road which turns into a small lake after a decent downpour.
Part of the problem is that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in their bid to save money stopped sweeping the streets regularly a few years ago. This is a false economy and has led to more debris lying about which consequently blocks the drains which are the responsibility of Kent County Council. We were promised more street cleaning in the autumn during the leaf fall, but this proved to be a false promise and was ineffectual. It looks like TWBC will be abolished in the next few years and hopefully we can get some more joined up services. We have a meeting with our MP, Mike Martin in the next few months to explain in more detail the problems with water management in the area. He has been super helpful and working with our TWBC Councillor Pamela Wilkinson we at least have people who are listening for a change.
