24 November 2017
Green Party councillors say that the impact of the rainfall on parts of the district last Wednesday night could have been much less severe if drains and gullies had been routinely cleared and if the County Council had responded to complaints about problems in flooding hotspots. They are demanding that Lancashire County Council provides evidence of a preventive cleaning regime and that it instigates an immediate inquiry into precisely why flooding occurred or was only prevented by fast-thinking and fast-acting residents.
The Greens say that residents and councillors had reported flooding problems as early as March this year – for example in Long Marsh Lane and Abraham Heights - but that very little has been done by the County Highways authority to sort out the issues.
Long Marsh Lane resident Julia Russell says that she reported problems of blocked gullies on Long Marsh Lane on the 31st March. Ms Russell said:
“Long Marsh Lane suffered a huge amount of surface flooding again on Wednesday night. This is the worse we have seen and it was covering the whole road in places and some pavements especially outside no 34A-E where it was lapping up to their front doors. We have done the best we can for now to clear debris from the drains with garden tools and one man with a rod.
However so many of the drains are silted up on this street - as I previously notified the County Council - and there is so much run off from the castle/priory area via the cycle path that our efforts are a sticking plaster. With more rain due we are likely to wake up to the same again.”
Another resident, Louise Mullagh, said:
“The water was running incredibly fast from the cycle path along the bottom of Priory Field and down from the Castle. Drains underneath the railway bridge just couldn’t cope with the flow. Coupled with the blocking of drains with leaves further down Long Marsh Lane this led to water almost entering houses. Thanks to the efforts of local
residents the drains were cleared just enough to prevent water getting into houses down the street. This has happened before and it is a significant worry each time we get heavy and prolonged rainfall.”
County Councillor Gina Dowding said:
“I am very disappointed that more hasn’t been done to clear drains from some known problem areas. The County Council told me in September that work on Long Marsh Lane hadn’t been carried out – and it still hasn’t been. However, there are many other areas in my division that have had problems. New Quay Road was completely flooded yesterday, as was the bottom of Bridge Road and parts of Willow Lane and Abraham Heights. Marsh Lane in Cockerham had the emergency services out.”
Bulk Ward Councillor Caroline Jackson reports on problems in the Town Centre and in her ward:
“I was at the Dukes till nearly 10 last night so went to check lower Church Street. It was flooded - businesses bailing out. Water was pouring down Moor lane and along the one-way to gather at the end of Church Street. Two grids accepting no water near the pedestrian crossing, so clearly blocked gullies.
I walked back up Moor Lane and cleared more than 20 blocked or mainly blocked grids – many of them were tightly packed with soil and grit. The water was gushing down inches deep from the canal bridge where the end of St Peters Road was 6 inches or more deep and blocked. The gully there is clearly blocked.
As I continued up the hill it got worse and there was what looked like a small river coming across Quernmore Rd out of Wyresdale. So intrepidly crossing ward boundaries I waded up clearing more gullies. Eventually I found water spurting up about 6 inches from all round one triangular drain cover. The source of the water flowing all the way down Moor Lane into town.
I reported it to UU leakline. When I walked back into town the water had stopped flowing down hill and was being coped with by the grids on Moorgate.”
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