A FLY-TIPPING hotspot behind Central Parade is to be adopted by Croydon Council to end "20 years of neglect".
The service road behind most of the estate's major businesses is to be repaired, resurfaced and regularly cleaned after two decades of no one taking responsibility for it.
It has been blighted by fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour but the council has committed to making it part of its highways and will regularly clean it.
Problems with the road emerged when the two landlords who owned all the buildings on Central Parade sold them to individual business owners.
In the sale, there was no management structure put in place as to who looked after the service road.
Without this, individual business owners were only responsible for their own land, leaving very little collective responsibility for the mess.
The fly-tipping of the land also impacted on properties in Salcot Crescent, which backs onto the service road. New Addington and Central Parade Business Partnership formed seven years ago, partly because of problems with the service road, and has lobbied the council ever since.
Ken Burgess, partnership chairman and owner of Burgess Boys Pet Care, said: "There's been 20 years of neglect in this road. It opens up a whole host of opportunities. It will make the area look nicer and it keeps fly-tipping under control.
"It also enables the businesses to use the space and make use of it as commercial space. It will be a boost to the economy of New Addington."
The council has said it will carry out the works at the same time as works on Central Parade take place, paid for with money from the Mayor of London's Outer London Fund. The works are set to start at some point next year.
The BID installed gates a few years ago to try and improve the security and prevent lorries and vans from dumping waste there, but they were vandalised and damaged.
New Addington councillor Oliver Lewis said: "It is something we have been aware of for a while. Whether people live on the roads around it or whether it is shop owners, the decision to adopt the service road is a positive one."
Cllr Lewis also said adopting the road long-term would "not cost massive amounts of money" for the council.
