A busy High Wycombe retail park that floods during heavy rain could start to be repaired in May, it has been claimed.

Parts of Wycombe Retail Park, along Ryemead Way, get waterlogged whenever it rains – forcing drivers to crawl through the puddles and shoppers to wade through the water to get to their vehicles.

Even when it is not raining, the brickwork moves as vehicles drive over it and the section of the car park closest to Argos and Wickes is the worst affected, Cllr Darren Hayday has said.

He told the Bucks Free Press he was “shocked” at how “bad” the car park has become because of drainage issues, adding that the state of it is “terrible”.

He said: “There is a drainage issue there is a lot of surface water sitting on part of the carpark outside the Argos and Wickes units.

“The block pavement in the car park is damaged and out of place in many areas.”

Reader Martin Jenkins joked you need “wellies or a boat” when visiting the car park, while Liz Flower said businesses in the park have received complaints.

Kayliegh Louise Taylor also told how she fell over a “loose” cobble stone and was helped by staff from Wickes and Argos.

M&G Real Estate, who manage the car park, previously said they were aware of the car park draining issues which have caused the brickwork to move and had hoped contractors would be on site by “mid-March”, but a new estimate is now May.

In emails seen by the Bucks Free Press in February, they said: “We have had consultants reviewing various options to ensure a permanent fix as we understand from the occupiers that this was repaired in the past by the previous owners.

“The specification for the works has now been agreed and as the works will be quite substantial they will need to be phased.

“Understandably the occupiers were keen that no works were undertaken either in the run up to Christmas or in the period of the January sales.”

The latest update from M&G this week said that tenders have finally been issued and a contractor has been appointed to start in May, however stressed that these are “estimated timings”.

It comes just months after dozens of complaints about an “abandoned” van that had been dumped in the retail park. The van, which was filled with rubbish including rubble and a mattress, was finally removed by M&G in February.