Drainage and Flooding

Motion as voted upon

Having seen increased adverse weather and flooding in recent years, it is apparent that the current conditions of our drains and gullies are not able to cope when we have increased and or severe rainfall. This is exacerbated by the lack of routine drain clearance due to the limited resources in Powys. Feedback from our residents, other councillors and community councils indicates that people feel that our other road maintenance problems are made worse by the increased amount of water running down the roads which should be going into the drains and gullies.



Earlier this year we saw severe flooding across Powys. Whilst flood risk cannot be eliminated when such extreme rainfall occurs, and flooding was also caused by rivers overflowing, in some areas properties were flooded potentially due to the lack of regular drain clearance. These are homes which are not adjacent to rivers or streams but flooded from road surface water which had no where else to go.



The Powys Conservative Group believe that there needs to be an annual routine drains maintenance schedule for county roads. However, we appreciate that this needs to be supported with sufficient resources. That is why we have already urged Powys Council to make use of the UK Government Shared Prosperity Levelling up Funds to bid for funding for at least two more drain jetters in Powys. Whilst that SPF process is still underway, there needs to be urgent action put in place, before the Winter sets in, in order to identify and clear those drains and gullies which are in the most high risk places that are likely to cause localised flooding of properties.

This Council calls on the Powys Council administration to:

1. Direct managers of the highways teams, at the earliest opportunity before Winter months, to work with Local Members to identify drains and gullies which need to be cleared in order to help prevent localised flooding.

2. Direct resources accordingly to ensure that those drains identified are cleared and unblocked urgently before the Winter months.