The Welcomes and Uplands Road Association is an unincorporated not for profit body run by volunteers, although the day to day administration of the Association has become so onerous and complex that honoraria are paid to the Secretary and Treasurer.
The main purpose of the Road Association is to maintain Welcomes and Uplands Roads, making it distinct from a typical Residents Association.
If you need to get in touch with WURA, please email welcomesanduplandsroads@gmail.com .
The two roads concerned are unadopted and their maintenance is the responsibility of the residents. Since it is impractical for residents to maintain their own section of the road, this task has been entrusted to a Road Committee since 1928. The original Road Committee changed its name to WURA at an AGM in 2002 .
All residents whose property frontages Welcomes or Uplands Roads and the spur roads of Benthall Gardens, Cumnor Rise, Kearton Close, Maryhill Close, Simone Drive and Pine Close which rely on Welcomes and Uplands Roads for access, are deemed to be members of the Association and are covenanted by deed to share the cost of maintaining Welcomes and Uplands Roads in line with the legal principle of benefit and burden re-affirmed by the Court of Appeal in the case of Goodman v Elwood 2013 and reinforced in 2010 by a standard note in the House of Commons library (PDF file).
The full constitution of the Association can be viewed here (PDF file).
WURA operate under the Legal Framework for Private Roads (5th Edition, 2013), details available here
Croydon Council clarified some of the options available to WURA in this letter (PDF file) in 2004.
The Committee
|
Position |
Name(s) |
|
|
Chairman |
Colin Brown |
With effect from the May 2025 AGM, Peter Knight, who lives in Welcomes Road, agreed to take over as Secretary (duly elected) with Richard Russell, the outgoing Secretary, acting as his assistant during the handover process until 30th September 2025..
The Committee’s focus continues to be on completion of the following road maintenance works:-
1. Resurfacing Welcomes Road from No 12 to No 42 by London Surfacing Company Ltd using stone mastic asphalt
2. Sealing the surface of Uplands Road, which is basically sound, to extend its life for another 10 years
3. To collect sufficient road levy income from both members and developers to fund the above projects
Some examples of what the Road Committee is responsible for overseeing:
- road maintenance and signage, including speed limit signs
- drain clearance, flood management and leaf sweeps
- requests to members to keep verges clean and, if needed, getting the work carried out and billing the member
- parking issues which impact the road, when members have been unable to resolve the problem in the first instance
- keeping the roads open and dealing with utility companies when excavations and other work is required
- collecting road levies, including from developers, and chasing defaulters for payment
- providing road levy information for house purchasers (as per Form TA6) and answering other solicitors’ queries during the conveyancing process
- negotiating with Croydon Council regarding controversial housing developments with poor on-site parking ratios or other likely adverse impact on the road
- maintains this website
The Road Committee does not get involved with (and members have a duty to do):
- disputes between neighbours of all kinds including those about noise, smoke from chimneys or bonfires, fences, overhanging trees, etc (please see Croydon Council for details on what can be done)
- clearing fallen trees, unless the member is unable to do so
- reporting fly-tipping to the Council
- nuisance parking which should be solved by the members themselves
- keeping hedges, brambles and weeds from growing over the road and verges clear as pedestrian refuges