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Another council is realising the importance of sorting out our drainage systems and mapping them to understand how they all work. Please see press release from Herefordshire Council- thank you to all the councillors who responded and provided this update

Council backs LibDem proposal to focus on drains

Herefordshire Council gave its unanimous backing to a LibDem proposal to focus more efforts on drain clearing and maintenance. The proposal came in the form of a motion to council proposed by Ed O’Driscoll, LibDem councillor for Ross East and seconded by Terry James, councillor for Kington and leader of the LibDem group.

The motion called upon the council to take a number of steps including ensuring that drains and gullies are mapped, publishing details of planned maintenance, and ensuring that areas most at risk of flooding are prioritised for maintenance.

Councillor Terry James said:

“LibDem councillors are very connected to the communities they serve. We know that it is incredibly frustrating for local people when flooding occurs because drains have not been cleared or are poorly maintained. Our proposals laid out some simple steps that the council can and should take to make sure that our drainage network is working as well as it can. We were delighted to see that our proposals were supported by the other political groups on the county council. We will be watching closely to make sure that the Conservatives who are in charge of the council implement these steps as quickly as possible.”

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Notes proposing the motion

·       According to data from the Met Office last month ten English counties experienced their wettest September on record.

·       Ross-on-Wye recorded 211mm of rain in September (around 4 times the monthly average) this caused two major flooding events in the town centre in addition to the flash flood back in May that swept away much of the pavement.

·       We are seeing the impact of global warming, and this means we are going to have to deal with heavier rain in the coming years. Hayley Fowler, Professor of ‘Climate Change Impacts’ at Newcastle University recently said: “It’s clear that the pace of climate adaptation in the UK is failing to keep up with increasing climate risks, recent flood events have been made more intense by global warming, and their impacts show the need for upgrades to existing infrastructure systems across the UK.”

·       It has become abundantly clear that the maintenance schedule for the cleansing of drains, gullies and culverts needs significant improvement.

·       This motion firstly calls for accurate mapping of our system ... I’m afraid it’s become evident in recent months we just don’t have maps for the whole network which begs the question ‘how can we organise a maintenance schedule when we don’t know where everything is?’

·       Other counties have real time mapping available via their websites. This facility means residents can zoom in literally to the drain in front of their house and the website will display information that shows when it was last cleaned and it’s scheduled future date. If our Parish Councils could access this quality of data it would mean they could maximise the impact of their Lengthsman ensuring the additional ‘top up’ work takes place when it will bring the most benefit

·       This motion also calls for an urgent programme of rectifying and repairing those parts of the system that have recently been damaged, while ensuring that in future those areas most at risk are prioritised for maintenance. While this will also require investment, it's far more cost-effective to proactively repair and maintain our infrastructure than to pay for emergency responses to flood damage. In fact, investing in preventative measures now will save the Council, and taxpayers, from the much higher costs of repeated flood repairs.