Many roads across Wilmslow were flooded yesterday after heavy rain hit the town. Almost the worst affected was a section of Oak Lane where neighbours rallied round to help one another.
Local resident Kathryn Park told wilmslow.co.uk "We seem to get this every single year and the Council don't appear to be doing anything to prevent it.
"The road and our garden has been completely flooded with foul smelling dirty water and had to be blocked off by a police car and several neighbours cars to stop the waves entering our houses after it had reached above the front steps. It is just one part of the road that floods and all surrounding roads seem to be unaffected.
"We have a retirement home behind us and several elderly people had to stop their cars in the road and get out and walk through the rising water. I helped one lady to the retirement home with her heavy shopping, she was unsteady on her feet and had to borrow a neighbours wellies whilst she waded through the dirty water. I also know of one neighbour who had to arrange a child minder last minute as she was unable to get to the school to pick up her daughter.
"Luckily we live in a great neighbourhood where we all helped to guide others through the flooded area and try to make the best of the situation that we could.
"Several of our neighbours have repeatedly reported our concerns to the Council but have had no help in sorting this situation.
"We are hoping that this can be taken more seriously after the recent flooding and believe that this needs to be dealt with as soon as possible to stop this reoccurring flooding each year."
Kathryn added "I have just found out that my next door neighbour had sewage pouring out of her shower as a result of the flooding. We also know that sewage was coming out of the drains."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Cheshire East Council should be working with United Utilities to ensure all the town's drain systems are clear and clean. Judging by the continuous expelling of sewage when we experience a volume of rain, it appears that solutions or even mere management of the drains is beyond these inept organisations.
WTC can do this for us. I'll leave it a few days, then contact GO and see if he is dealing with it.
The results of this can be devastating, and that is before we talk about the long terms questions of house insurance etc.
We have been told, that flooding an issue of living too close to rivers, but if the sewers and storm drains are not cleared, despite us paying for it through our council tax, then this is no fault of the owner, but negligence by the council.
And please, council, yes, we can do a bit of us ourselves, by sweeping in front of our drives, esp in autumn and after the trees flowered, but that does not absolve the councils of their duty of maintenance.
Cllr Menlove said that it had been a difficult 14 months of negotiation before a contract was let. That contract runs out in four months but there is an option to renew it for a further two years. Do you think they should renew it on our behalf, given the floods(!) of complaint about street-lighting, poor road surfaces and blocked grids from right across Cheshire East? If they are not going to extend the contract, one would hope that the relevant invitations to tender went out about 18 months ago.
Watch this space.
He is perfectly welcome to post my full response on this thread.
Thank you for your response and for the details.
After the recent torrential downpours I reported a number of areas of localised flooding due to blocked gullies and culverts to Highways as did my Wilmslow CE co-councillors.
Knutsford Road and Fulshaw Park were among those areas but your pdf is very useful and I have forwarded that to Highways.
I'll follow up on the light columns and recognise the 2 in the pdf. It would help if you could email the numbers on the columns of the other faulty lights.
The Highways contract is with Ringway Jacobs and I stand by my words as quoted by you below. Under Cheshire County Council the entire road network had been seriously underinvested so the roads were in a poor condition on transfer. Services such as gully emptying had moved to reacting to problems rather than identifying and rectifying problems during scheduled emptying.
Under CEC an extra £20m has been allocated from capital and further extra money secured from government funding sources so the road condition has been improved but clearly this is an ongoing process. Gullies are being emptied and blockages identified but, if problems remain the only option is digging (Macclesfield Road being an example). Street lights are being converted to LED which is a major operation that additionally is identifying columns that are below standard and must be replaced. So the situation is vastly improved but nobody is suggesting that it is perfect.
Surgeries are always a possibility but to a large extent have been superceded by email. I am contacted by residents by email as and when they have an issue and if they want me to visit then I do but the majority are content with an email exchange. Since you are abroad in the near future perhaps you can let your neighbours know that they can email me with their problems and that I am more than happy to visit if that is what they want.
When you return I would appreciate the opportunity of a face to face discussion but if there are any problems in the meantime then do email them through.
Rod Menlove
PS:
I have copied all Wilmslow East Town Cllrs for information.
These are the words that Cllr Menlove says he is standing by:
Cheshire East Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, said: "It has been a busy and challenging 14-month procurement process. I am very pleased with the outcome, which is down to an extensive, open and transparent consultation.
"The highways service is a vast and vital part of Cheshire East Council. Ringway Jacobs is a forward-thinking company with clear objectives as to how highways services can be delivered efficiently at a local level. The new contract will be a streamlined one, combining excellent service with financial savings.
"This new five-year contract will deliver savings in excess of £1 million per year."
What Cllr Menlove did not respond to was my question regarding the possible two-year extension to this contract- is it being extended and, if so on what basis, given the complaints from right across the Borough.