Disastrous resurfacing works that turned a Nunhead square into a tarmacked ‘abomination’ cost the taxpayer £26,500, a Freedom of Information (FOI) has revealed.
Residents were furious when Southwark Council tore up Nunhead Green and turned it into a sea of black.
There were also fears for the trees’ health when it emerged the new material wouldn’t let rainwater drain through.
Following the public outcry, the council dug up the tarmac and replaced it with a permeable green surface.
Jay Sopper, who runs the nearby FC Soper Fishmonger, said the spend was an “absolutely ridiculous waste of money”.
But he added that the £26.5k figure wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. “It could have been more expensive than that,” he said.
Local resident Anna Allalouf, whose photos of the tarmacked surface made national headlines, said the council had ignored previous consultations on the Green.
She added: “I’m unhappy, of course, about the money wasted due to incompetence on the council’s part.”
The works were undertaken in February to make the surface more even.
But Southwark councillor Catherine Rose swiftly admitted that the wrong highways surface had been ‘used in error’.
“Nunhead Green is one of our much loved green spaces and we’ve worked rapidly to ensure that the correct park quality surface will be used,” she said at the time.
In total, Southwark Council spent £26,576.95 on the works including £8,957.95 on the tarmac and £17,618.38 on the improved asphalt.
The FOI also revealed exchanges between council staff as they rushed to fix the problem.
One staff member, whose name was omitted, said they needed to “get onto this fast” after getting “lots of complaints”.
In another email, a staff member questioned why the redesign hadn’t been done in ‘a more sympathetic way’ adding that the tarmac stood out ‘like a sore thumb’.
A council spokesperson said: “We are very grateful to the residents who alerted us to the error, which meant we could quickly resurface the area to improve accessibility and water drainage on the green. Now the area is much more in keeping with the rest of the park with better protection for the surrounding trees.”