Richard Smith at the ‘Highbury puddle’

RESIDENTS are warning of perilous conditions outside a busy station after a flooded stretch of pavement froze over to become an “ice skating rink”.

Those living nearby have long complained about the “Highbury puddle” that forms in the pedestrianised area of Highbury Corner, which often freezes over during colder spells.

“We have this huge lake whenever it rains – and now an ice skating rink,” said Richard Smith, who lives in Highbury Hill. “It’s a big issue for people who use Highbury Corner in that whenever it rains, a puddle forms – it’s expansive and it’s a job to get round it.”

Mr Smith blames the puddle on Transport for London’s redesign of the roundabout.

“What irritates people is that the whole redevelopment of the roundabout was expensive and took a lot of time. They insisted on a pedestrianised area but they couldn’t even get that right,” he said.

“I know they said they’d try and cure it. They built it with a tank underneath but that doesn’t work. Nobody is taking responsibility, nobody is accepting it’s ill thought out. With a bit of advance planning and forward thinking they could have seen this would happen.”

According to chartered surveyor Jon Winn, the puddle forms when a rainwater tank placed below street level overfills.

“When they built [Highbury Corner], rather than having surface water running straight into the drain, they put in a great big tank to percolate into. It holds the water back to stop pressure on the combined rainwater and foul water drain,” said Mr Winn. “But it’s not working – either it’s not big enough or it’s not discharging quick enough.”

Highbury councillor Caroline Russell described the puddle as evidence of a “design failure” and said she was pressuring TfL to solve the problem.

Andrew Wiseall, TfL’s Head of Asset Operations, said: “We are committed to making sure that everyone can walk safely around Highbury Corner. We carried out work with our contractor to improve the drainage system last year and we are determined to find a long-term solution for the issue. We have put in place an increased maintenance regime to clear the drainage system more regularly and are carrying out an urgent review of the system’s design to resolve the issue permanently.”