Recent spells of heavy rain have revealed failings in the way in which the County Council maintains the road side drains and gullies, with flooding of roadside properties in Ashwell, Radwell and Weston amongst others.

Although the council now cleans gullies in some of the areas most vulnerable to flooding every six months the pipes between the drains are not kept clean so when there is heavy rain the gullies overflow. In addition it can take six months to get a gully dug out if it has been completely blocked by mud.

The council needs to do better than this. Part of its strategy for dealing with climate change should recognise that we are likely to get very heavy rain more often and that this means they must do a better job keeping the roadside drains working.