Croydon: Our Norbury street has become a scrapyard of dumped cars and stinks of urine – we’ve had enough

Despite clearing similar sites across the borough, locals feel the council’s neglect of their street “sums up Croydon Council.”

Kilmartin Avenue in Norbury, just off the busy London Road linking Croydon with Streatham and inner London, looks like a typical quiet residential street lined with large semi-detached houses. However, a closer look reveals curbs lined with abandoned cars, some being worked on by mechanics in the street.

Many of these vehicles take up valuable on-street parking normally used by residents and visitors. Most of the activity, especially at the top of the road, comes from the garage at 1124–1126 London Road.

This garage and the behaviour it attracts have caused frustration among residents for the past decade. Sue Wavell, who has lived on the road for 36 years, said: “It used to be beautiful here,” but that this long-running issue had “ruined it.”

Another long-time resident near the garage shares this view, saying they have had to live their lives around the cars for years. He said: “It is just a general blight on the neighbourhood; it’s made the place look like a breakers yard.”

Neighbours claim the garage, reportedly run by a man named Dennis, regularly parks old or damaged vehicles along the street, taking up scarce residential parking. Kilmartin Avenue has no yellow lines and is also home to several small local businesses that rely on available parking.

Residents told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that they often find themselves blocked in by rundown cars they claim are linked to the garage. While these vehicles are usually moved after residents approach Dennis, this is not always the case.

One resident said: “When you go up to them and ask if this is their car, they say it has nothing to do with them, but it clearly does.”

He added: “I was outside one day, and one of Dennis’ associates was putting the brakes on the back of a powerful Mercedes. He was literally spinning the wheels so much it was making smoke, covering the whole street. That’s not something you can do in a residential street.”

Eighty-six-year-old Eileen Urquart has lived on Kilmartin Avenue almost all her life and has witnessed many changes as well as experiencing the worst of the problems. She told the LDRS the garage next door attracts what she called “intimidating” crowds throughout the day and into the evening.

She added that the alleyway beside her home is also often used as an “open toilet”. “They urinate in the alley. I have spent so much money on disinfectant, it’s unbelievable,” she said.

During a visit to the road, the LDRS raised residents’ concerns with Dennis. He denied the garage had made the road worse, claiming only three of the cars were his and that he had helped residents with repairs and other assistance over the years.

“We have a mutual understanding,” he said. “They say I’m going to have a visitor, so if you could make a space from seven till ten, then you can put it back.”

When questioned about the presence of his associates, Dennis said: “Sometimes the boys sit inside, sometimes they sit outside. Most of them work on cars; they’re young boys who need something to do.”

He added: “It’s better than them going out causing trouble. I try to help them do something with their lives instead of messing about and causing problems.”

Locally owned Protex Electrical Supplies, opposite the garage, told the LDRS how the garage has seriously affected their trade. “We are losing customers every day.

“They aren’t coming any more because there’s nowhere to park,” one owner said. “We have to ask people every hour to move their cars. Dennis always says it’s nothing to do with him, but if he’s not there, no one comes.”

Despite their frustration with the garage, residents also feel let down by Croydon Council, which they claim has known about their concerns for almost ten years but has taken no meaningful action.

Local Labour councillor Leila Ben-Hassel told the LDRS the council and the Met Police have been aware of the problem for years and are trying to resolve it, but several obstacles have delayed progress.

The garage occupies a corner plot on London Road owned by a landlord named Mr Zafeer Jarree. Cars are also parked along the front of the plot, taking up much of the pavement. The site has been subject to three planning applications to reconfigure the space and the flats above.

Although the first two applications failed, permission was granted for the third in January 2024. The plans include replacing the garage doors with a glazed shopfront to create space and remove some cars from the road.

Cllr Ben-Hassel said the approved application would help ease the parking issues, but the landlord has yet to begin work. The council’s powers to compel landlords to start building after planning permission are limited, so the site remains unchanged until the landlord acts.

While residents acknowledge the council is aware of their situation, they find the lengthy delay “unacceptable.”

She said: “I complained about the smell of car spray coming into my back garden. They came and saw that spraying had happened, but because no one was spraying at the time, they said they couldn’t do anything.”

Eileen’s neighbour, Chidi Okeke, expressed her frustration in an email to the council detailing “almost ten years’ worth of nonsense” on the road. Despite sending it in March, she had not received a response by late May.

She told the LDRS: “This sums up Croydon Council. I wrote it because council staff come intermittently and do absolutely nothing. I can’t understand it. It’s like a landlord and their tenant have taken over a whole community, and nothing is done about it.”

Recent news that Croydon has taken action against a used car dealer illegally selling vehicles on South Norwood Hill has only deepened residents’ frustration.

Croydon Mayor Jason Perry stated that increased enforcement is one of his “key commitments” and that the council is “actively targeting hotspots across Croydon and taking decisive action.”

While the situation on Kilmartin Avenue is more complex because some abandoned vehicles are on private land, residents like Chidi feel the council is prioritising other parts of the borough despite the problem lasting nearly a decade.

She said: “How did they get it and we didn’t? It is insidious because it is about how you can feel uncomfortable in your own community.”

Croydon Council and police were due to meet with residents on the morning of 2 June to discuss their concerns. However, residents said that despite waiting for over an hour, no one showed up.

A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of antisocial behaviour taking place on Kilmartin Avenue and surrounding roads in Norbury.

“We are working with the police to investigate these issues and and will use any powers available to us to resolve them. Our abandoned vehicles team has and will continue to patrol the area, and any unclaimed vehicles will be removed.

“We thank residents for bringing this to our attention and we welcome any further information being reported to us on this or any other issues of antisocial behaviour, through Love Clean Streets.”