Sheffield business flooded after repeatedly warning about blocked river culvert

A business has been flooded after it repeatedly asked Sheffield Council to unblock a nearby river culvert.
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Oliver Guise-Smith, who owns a cleaning company on Hangingwater Road, says he has repeatedly reported the problem to Sheffield Council and hurt his ankle trying to unblock the culvert himself.

A stream runs down the side of his building and under the road and houses before connecting with the Porter Brook river in Bingham park.

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There is a metal grate but Oliver says this often becomes blocked up and stops the water flowing.

The culvert At Hangingwater RoadThe culvert At Hangingwater Road
The culvert At Hangingwater Road

"Over the years, we've regularly reported this to the council and little action or regular checks and works are done to ensure it doesn't affect us and the road.

"We've cleared it ourselves more times than I care to count though it isn't our responsibility to manage a public river.

"In the past two weeks, with the storms that we have had, this has completely blocked up at least twice, flooded our basement and once put river water on to the road."

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Oliver said he started reporting it to the council eight weeks ago but was told nothing could be done until mid September.

Oliver Guise SmithOliver Guise Smith
Oliver Guise Smith

"We couldn't live with the issue and took it upon ourselves to clear the grating. With the heavy rain, the river again blocked up the grate.

"I went down and cleared what I could though with the higher water level and no waders, I've been unable to do the greatest job. I also injured myself and cut my ankle on the broken bars of the grate.

"This river itself needs some proper maintenance as well as the culvert regularly being checked and cleared."

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Sheffield Council said it was alerted to potential flooding by the Environment Agency last week.

Gill Charters, head of waste management and highways, said: "After visiting to clear it we found this had already been done and the debris was removed from site. We will visit again and speak to those affected to see how we can improve water flow at the culvert and prevent incidents like this occurring in the future."

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