Concerns over Whitehouse Road shops car park in Billingham

Councillors want action to fix and maintain the privately owned Whitehouse Road shops car park in Billingham following severe flooding.

Cllrs Marcus Vickers and David Reynard, who represent Billingham West and Wolviston, said many residents were frustrated with ‘numerous potholes and blocked drainage’.

Councillors (l-r) Marcus Vickers, David Reynard and Niall Innes (Image: STOCKTON COUNCIL)

Cllr Vickers said: “The only fish we’ve caught so far have been from the local chippy, but I’m confident in time we will have a well established lake and nature reserve in the car park. Jokes aside, it does pose a great risk to the safety of residents, especially elderly residents who use the shops so regularly.

“It’s a private car park, there’s a lot of potholes, clearly the drainage isn’t getting maintained. The car park becomes a pond if there’s a bad downpour.

“So anybody going to the shops are either damaging the wheels of their cars in a pothole or they’re having to walk through puddles to get to the shops. We’re not talking about a couple of centimetres, we’re talking inches.

“Some of the residents think they need to go snorkelling through it. It gets absolutely massive and floods the entire car park.

“It’s an area that the public use a lot. It’s important local shops, busy shops, it’s right near a school so it does get a lot of footfall.

The flooded car park at the Whitehouse Road shops (Image: CLLR DAVID REYNARD)

“There’s a lot of elderly residents who use those shops so it’s not safe. It’s a disaster waiting to happen if somebody gets injured. It shouldn’t have to get to that state.

“It’s frustrating for us as councillors because we’re trying to get it fixed. It’s out of our hands and out of the council’s hands.

“It was brought up during the election campaign (last May) and since the election we’ve been going back and forth with officers of the council. We’re still sadly no further forward.

“We’re being passed from pillar to post, going around different officers in the council and different businesses, so people can apply a bit of common sense. We’ve tried pestering.

“We’re at the point where if push comes to shove, we’ll just unblock and tarmac it ourselves, we’re that frustrated with it. We’re just hoping the council can put more pressure on.

“They’ve tried clearing it but I don’t think they’ve cleared it enough.”

Cllr Reynard said: “I thought it was only the council who can’t fill in potholes, but clearly there must be a competition with a small number of private owners. It’s frustrating that the hard-working staff of the great shops and pub we have are unable to allow customers and residents to leave safely due to the state of the car park.”

Cllr Niall Innes, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Stockton North, has called for quicker actions by both the council and other organisations. He said: “When meeting and helping residents across Billingham and Stockton I have found the bureaucracy and lack of common sense by some authorities or organisations to be highly frustrating and concerning.

“I’ll keep supporting residents and local hard-working councillors like Marcus and David to help apply and keep pressure on such organisations to take responsibility.”

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Stonegate, which runs the Wynyard pub located on the same row of shops, says it is aware of the “flooding issue” and will investigate the matter. A spokesperson, who also confirmed that the car park belongs to the pub company, said: “We have been made aware of a flooding issue in the car park of the Wynyard Pub in Billingham.

“Stonegate Group are committed to maintaining property and will be surveying the car park this week. They will be looking to put in a wider and deeper drainage channel and complete some pot-hole repairs to ensure the local community can use the carpark to its full capacity.”

A spokesperson for Stockton Council said: “Whitehouse Road car park is privately owned. We’re aware of the surface of the car park and drainage and have been in touch with the owners so they can look into the issues.”