LABOUR DEMANDS ACTION ON DRAINS MAINTENANCE

Kent Labour is calling on Kent County Council to clean out its highways drains more often and more thoroughly after torrential rain hit East Kent today.

Labour Shadow Leader of KCC, Mike Eddy, said it is time that Kent County Council put into action plans to keep roadside drains and gulleys clean. 

Kent Highways staff had to pull out all the stops to keep roads open and to clear debris in flooded areas this morning. Mike Eddy said, “In a time of increasing extreme weather events, we need to make sure that drains are always clear of muck. Clearing debris when the rain is falling and the drains are blocked is not just a waste of time and money; it is dangerous to lives and property. Kent County Council’s Tory administration needs to plan its drains maintenance programme thoroughly and needs to work with the privatised water companies to maintain the drainage system properly. It is no use demanding money from Government to solve a problem which Kent County Council has in part been responsible for creating. “

Homes were flooded for the second time in a month in Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone. Mike Eddy said, “These local drains were completely jet-blasted and cleaned out by Highway Services in mid-June. Only now are engineers carrying out tests using cameras to find out why their cleaning didn’t work. That’s too late for the people whose homes have been flooded again.”

Elsewhere, Kent Highway Services brought in a digger to clear up fifteen tonnes of debris washed from adjoining fields onto the Alkham Valley Road, near Dover. Mike Eddy said, “Back in 2000, Kent County Council knew that it had to work with farmers to stop topsoil and other debris being washed onto the County’s roads. The time is long past for Kent’s Tories to face up to this problem.” 

The Whitstable floods resulted in up to two feet of water laying on the road. Mike Eddy said, “This is a repeat of the poor drainage maintenance programme that we saw in the year 2000 floods.”