Lincolnshire County Councillor says residents should clear gullies outside their homes to prevent flooding

Residents should take more responsibility for clearing gullies outside their homes to prevent flooding, according to a county councillor.

Coun Thomas Dyer told the county’s Highways Committee that people should not rely so heavily on the council and instead take it upon themselves to ensure that they are free of debris.

“Call me old fashioned, I’ve got a drain outside of my house and I live on a tree lined street and you know what I do when the when the leaves come down and block it?” the Waddington and Hykeham councillor asked.

“I go out there and rather than moan to the council or demand that it comes out and does it I go outside of my house and clear the leaves myself.

“We need residents to take more responsibility for clearing gullies outside their homes,” added the executive support councillor for environment and economy.

“It’s not just the council’s responsibility to prevent flooding, it’s everyone’s responsibility. We all have a role to play in keeping our communities safe and preventing damage to property.

“By working together, we can prevent flooding and keep our communities safe.”

Coun Dyer’s comments were in response to Labour member Coun Kev Clarke, who had reported issues in his area.

Coun Clarke said: “Recently, there’s been gullies in my area that’s been flooded.

“One of them was clearly blocked with leaves but when I went on Fix My Street or Hit and Miss and I explained to them it was a gully that was full of leaves the reply was ‘it’s not our responsibility to sweep the channels’.”

Jonathan Evans, the council’s Head of Highways, confirmed that the issue was the responsibility of the highway authority to jet or collect the gully.

However, he also acknowledged that residents had a role to play in preventing flooding.

He said: “What we’re trying to do as part of the new targeted cleanse is gather more information, gather more data, historically, we’ve been trying to cleanse these assets annually.

“So in the example that you’ve given there on a tree lined street, it might be that in the future, once we get some either inquiries or some minor flooding incidents, that it will trigger that to become twice annual.”

The county is encouraging residents to be vigilant and report any issues with blocked gullies as soon as possible.