Council left to pay for flooding investigation

June 10 2021
Council left to pay for flooding investigation

Whittington Parish Council’s chairman said he finds it “incredible” that the council is having to pay for investigations into flooding in Church Lane “with no help at all from highways”.

Steve Burrows made his comments during a parish council meeting when the recurring issue was discussed.

David Chestney reported that an underground camera survey had indicated that a collapsed chamber could be the cause of the problem.

Mr Burrows said: “I just find it incredible that a highway is being flooded repeatedly and we are being left to pay for and sort out how to stop the highway flooding with no help at all from highways.

“We haven’t had any help at all. It’s like that old joke about a hole and three men are looking into it, because that’s all they’ve done.”

He added he thought it was “pretty bad that a parish council’s being left to try and sort out a blocked highway”.

He went on: “I think we’re reaching the point where we’ve done all we can and I’d go as far as to say we’ve expended money on this survey for a highways matter and we should be looking to claim some of it back from highways, I think.”

Parish councillor Katie Lambeth-Mansell asked: “Have we actually got highways to do a risk assessment in terms of the impact to health and safety?

“So rather than just say ‘what are you going to do about the issue’, have we actually got a joint position which they agreed the level of risk posed by flooding and how that changes through the seasons?”

Mr Chestney said: “Clearly there are safety issues, particularly in the winter, when you’ve got ice there, because it gets like a skating rink at times.

“So it’s something else that we can really take up.”

Wychavon district councillor Rob Adams highlighted an incident when a resident slipped over in the floodwater.

Katie Lambeth-Mansell said: “So I think we need to flag that as a near miss, actually.

“So that just illustrates that this isn’t actually a potential risk – it has happened. It just hasn’t had the level of consequence it could have had.”

Mr Burrows said: “Perhaps it takes somebody to sue for damages.”