Bad path surface in Cut Throat Alley, Ham
This alley connects Ham Street with The Ham Avenues and is an excellent way to avoid the fast traffic in Sandy Lane. It is a cut through which is particularly useful as a safe car-free route for parents and kids on foot and bikes to get to the German School and the Russell School.
It is also creates a link to help people avoid a stretch of the busy Petersham Road, as it connects with Riverside Drive and on to Kingston.
It is a dirt track which becomes dangerously and unappealingly muddy for autumn/ winter/ spring. I know some people choose to drive to school rather than attempt this route with children (and buggies).
If changing the surface is not an option due to drainage then this path should be included in the council's leaf clearing schedule so that the mud does not have the opportunity to develop each autumn. I have tried advising the council to clear the mud - no reponse as yet. Two years ago the Council put down stones on the worst affected part but that created a skidding hazard.