Rotting birds and mounds of excrement that fall from a bridge in Willesden are blighting the lives of motorists and pedestrians - but rail chiefs claim they have no cash to sort it out.
Transport bosses and Brent Council are being accused by neighbours of ignoring the Network Rail-owned bridge on Park Avenue, which borders Dudden Hill and Willesden Green.
For more than five years, Simon Campbell, who lives nearby, has been emailing the council on behalf of his neighbours, but says he’s been met by a “wall of silence and inaction”.
In an email, he urged councillors, MPs and neighbours to reflect on the “mounds of excrement on the bridge, spattered all over the carriageway and footpaths, the dead, rotting birds, and the airborne pathogens swirling around the site”.
He added: “This should have been addressed and cleaned up once and for all, many years ago.
“Instead, Brent Council have been complicit with Network Rail for allowing this revolting spectacle to continue for years – almost six years in the time I have been attempting to get it sorted.”
He said panels of wire mesh should be fitted to exposed undercarriages to the bridge.
Alison Hopkins, a former Liberal Democrat councillor for Dollis Hill, said: “Park Avenue bridge is really disgusting. It’s residents’ only walkthrough to Willesden Green and parents of children in nearby schools must walk under it every day.
“The bridge in Cricklewood Lane on the Barnet side was a sorry sight, but the Cricklewood Town Team got involved and it’s really nice now. Brent has enforcement powers – it is just not using them.”
A spokeswoman for Brent Council said: “We are aware of the problem and are in discussions with Network Rail, who own the bridge, to try and address the issues.”
But a spokeswoman for Network Rail said: “We secured netting over the pavement in Park Avenue, Willesden, at the end of last year, but at this stage there are no plans or funding to extend this over the road.”
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