Petition for Harrow Council to fix Butler Avenue pavements

A petition calling for the pavements along Butler Avenue in West Harrow to be resurfaced was submitted at a Harrow Council meeting last month (September 26).

Its creator, Mike Williams, claims the more than 70 signatures come from the 41 houses along Butler Avenue and represent the “unanimous view” of residents.

Mr Williams believes the “very poor state” of the pavements are a “clear danger” to pedestrians. He told the council: “We are aware of three recent significant injuries as a direct result of trips on the poor surfaces, two of which required hospital treatment.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Mr Williams said: “We started to hear anecdotal evidence where people would say “oh no, we don’t walk up there” because it’s too difficult. They purposely avoid it. 

“Then an elderly lady up the road said she had had a fall and ended up in hospital, then someone else said they broke their elbow. One lady got a very nasty graze on her face.

Uneven Pavement Butler Road. Dovile Usone said her son has fallen off his scooter numerous times already. Image Credit: Grant Williams

"People talked about suing the council but before doing that I thought we should try and get them to redo it.”

Mr Williams claims the council are “just filling in the worst holes”, which has to be done every month. He calls this a “quick fix” but said the problem is just getting worse.

He wants a complete resurfacing. He said: “I don’t want them to just come along with some tarmac and make it look like a dog’s dinner. They should lay proper paving stones, they should do proper resin bonded tree pits to future proof it.”

Butler Avenue, Harrow. Mike Williams claims the petition is the \'unanimous view\' of Butler Avenue\'s residents. Image Credit: Grant Williams

He added: “Do it once, do it right. If they don’t, I will be asking my next question, which will be who do we address the compensation claims to when we have the next accident, because there will be one.”

Supporter Dovile Usone has been talking about the problems “for years”. She said: “It’s horrible. We have kids and when they go down with a scooter or we go down with a pram, it’s quite dangerous. One is three years old, he goes out with his scooter every day and he has fallen a few times already. Some of the slabs of the pavement really stick out.”

The narrow pavements and uneven slabs mean Dovile mean the wheels on her newborn baby's pram sometimes get stuck and the pram jerks around.

Narrow Pavement, Butler Road. Sally Oliphant said wheelchair users are having to use the road because the pavement is \'not fit for purpose\'. Image Credit: Grant Williams

Dovile said the surface is even worse after her kids’ nursery at the end of the road. She said: "Some pavement slabs have been lifted by the tree roots and some are just old. It’s awful. I’m not surprised there have been accidents, any elderly person could just trip over and break a bone.”

Sally Oliphant told the LDRS the pavements are are an accident waiting to happen. She said: “I have an older son who tries to cycle and scoot on them and he has fallen off. He didn’t hurt himself badly but he fell, so he was upset.”

She added: “I would like them to sort it out for all of the parents with buggies and children on bikes, but also for wheelchair users and accessibility. I can struggle with it and survive but some people need and rely on wheelchair access. A guy I see all the time in his mobility scooter just goes down the middle of the road.”

Harrow Council were approached for comment but did not respond ahead of publication. Mr Williams claims there has also been no response to the petition from the council.