Only the reported blocked drains are cleaned

I WOULD like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Heatherington for putting me right on the issue of drain and gully cleaning. The efforts of his team in clearing gullies etc in the flooded streets, so that the water drained away, was commendable.
By The Newsroom
Published 31st Jul 2007, 12:19 BST

But on the other hand, wasn't it a bit like closing the stable door after the horse had bolted? Wouldn't it have helped to stop the floods if his team had cleared and cleaned the drains before the rains came?

In fact if drains and gullies had been systemetically cleaned and cleared in an ongoing maintenance regime then surface water wouldn't have cascaded down into the rivers in such force and we wouldn't have had the heavy flooding that resulted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

From what I gather only the blocked drains that are reported are cleared. For instance, a neighbour reported a block drain near his home. The workmen duly arrived and proceeded to unblock it. Another neighbour saw them and asked them if they would see to another blocked drain near his home. "Oh no", they said. "You must ring the depot and report it, then we will come out and do it.” Quite a number of streets haven't seen a gully cleaner in years. As for parked cars being in the way, why not do what the resufacing teams do and inform people when it's going to happen and please not to park your cars. It would make the job a lot easier.

David Bullard Greenhill