Category Archives: Local Environment

Sewer Vent in bad condition outside Kelsey Park

If there are any sewer vents in bad condition near you let us know and we will pass the information onto Thames Water. These are tall posts that look like Victorian lamp posts without the lamps, like this one on Manor Way outside Kelsey Park at the junction of Greenways. Sewer vents were used by the Victorians to – you guessed it – vent the sewers. They are not needed on modern sewers, but several old sewers vents have been left standing without any maintenance for many years.

We think Thames Water don’t actually know where they are – so let’s tell them! A couple of years ago, Vanessa Allen gathered some information on some vents and Thames Water acted promptly to re-paint them.

Email info@westbeckenhamra.org  with precise address details – house number, or road junction.

DID YOU KNOW ELMERS END GREEN IS 300 YEARS OLD?

Elmers End Green 1928

 HELP US REGISTER IT AS A TOWN GREEN

MAP OF ELMERS END IN 1775

Elmers End Green can be found on local maps and surveys going back to 1723!

Once surrounded by fields and meadows, it has been in exactly the same place and shape for three hundred years. On this map, you can see Croydon Rd, Upper Elmers End Road and Eden Park Avenue, and the triangle of the Green is marked.  So it is one the most historic pieces of land in Beckenham.

WBRA has persuaded the Development Control Committee of Bromley Council that the Green should be registered as a Town Green to recognise its history and protect it for future enjoyment.

 But before it can happen, the Council’s Executive Committee must agree.

 We need your help – please write to the Leader of the Council to support us.

Councillor Stephen Carr, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH

or email at   Stephen.Carr@bromley.gov.uk

Please copy your email to mpenderwbra@btinternet.com

Good news that £3.2m is now available from Transport for London for improvements to Beckenham Town Centre. The working group under the chairmanship of Cllr Tickner of Copers Cope Ward has been reconvened to go over the issues that were the focus of the bid to TfL last autumn and to ensure that they are still relevant and workable. WBRA attends this group.

This £3.2m is in addition to money already provided by TfL to re-align the junction at Beckenham Junction – ie Southend Road / Rectory Road / Albemarle Road / High Street. The plans include reducing the pavement outside O’Neill’s pub and moving the traffic island over so that vehicles turning left from Rectory Road will have a wider turning circle. This is aimed at reducing the hold-ups there when large vehicles get stuck, avoiding them mounting the narrow pavement outside the locksmiths, and encouraging them not to travel through the High Street to avoid this turn. Sadly it is not possible to widen the footpath outside the locksmiths as this would defeat the object of the scheme because lorries would still not have enough room to turn. Countdown timers will be installed on this junction, as they have already been at the lights at St George’s and at Thornton’s Corner.

A Town Centre Team has been formed under the auspices of Copers Cope Area RA (who cover the High Street), Beckenham Business Association and LB Bromley, and is chaired by Chloe Jane Ross, Chair of CCARA. WBRA is a member of the Team which also includes Beckenham Rotary Club, Bromley Cyclists, Bromley Road School, Bromley Mobility Forum, Churches Together, Copers Cope Ward Police, Friends of Kelsey Park, The Beckenham Society, and Waitrose Beckenham.

Members of the Town Centre Team

TCT has worked on proposals for decluttering the High Street of unnecessary street furniture and signage, liaising on the works to implement the Beckenham Junction improvements, improving amenities at Beckenham Green, repairing the many clocks we have on the High Street, improving the many neglected alleyways, and obtaining the “Purple Flag Award” for Beckenham’s night time economy and indentifying safety accessibility and streetscape issues. TCT will have a big input to the working group on the TfL £3.2m funding for the town centre.