Cheshire East Council is urging communities, landowners and partners to come together to help tackle the scale and extent of future flooding incidents across the borough.
The recent spells of intense rainfall on already waterlogged ground, coupled with high river levels, has brought about unprecedented episodes of flooding across the borough.
The council is appealing to farmers and all landowners to clear ditches and culverts and improve land drainage. It is taking measures on its own land to improve drainage, where necessary, while the council's highways and environmental services teams have stepped up gully cleaning and street sweeping.
Across Cheshire East, it is estimated that more than 35,000 homes and business premises are located in areas where there is a recognised risk of flooding and all property owners have a responsibility to carry out their own measures to protect their homes and property without causing any interference with neighbouring properties.
Emergency planning teams from the council and other agencies are already working with communities affected by recent flooding events. Many residents and communities, including parish and town councils, provide support and help to each other, to build resilience, and share knowledge and strategies for dealing with flood emergencies.
The joint Cheshire emergency planning team works with town and parish councils to develop a community emergency plan to provide advice and direction, build resilience in communities and enable residents and councils to coordinate their own actions and responses.
Frank Jordan, Cheshire East Council's executive director for place, said: "It is important that we all work together to better prepare for the kind of flooding events we have experienced in the borough.
"We recognise that in some parts of the country, as well as in our borough, residents have experienced severe flooding incidents and have seen damage to their property and been forced to leave their homes or have been seriously inconvenienced by the closure of local roads.
"Naturally, we want to do all we can as a council and flood authority to try to minimise that risk here in Cheshire East but we would urge all home and property owners to check the flood risk map which shows the identified flood risk areas in the borough.
"We are working with a number of our partner agencies and organisations, including the Environment Agency, United Utilities, the Canal and River Trust, farmers and landowners.
"We are asking all landowners to take whatever steps they feel appropriate to help minimise the risk of flooding to properties, to roads and footways. If necessary, the council does have the power under the Land Drainage Act 1991, to compel landowners to do this."
Cheshire East Council continues to work within national planning policy guidelines regarding new development and flood risk to make sure that the risk of flooding is properly considered and reflected in planning decisions.
Click here for all information relating to flooding, how to prepare for flooding and the risk of flooding.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Cheshire east council has a plan of their gully cleaning team! 3 teams! Alderley Edge is down for the 15th to 17th of April 2020! 3 days to unblock the drains in Alderley! They obviously haven’t accessed the job! From 65 Heyes Lane , to the village, 80% of the grids are blocked! Only 3 grids on the whole of Trafford Road run clear, Steven Street, Clifton Street, Stamford Road, and on and on! If the rain water can’t go down into the drains then where is it to go??
Looking at our new calendar for bin collection, it looks like the green bins don’t really stop this year, so why not come together as a community and make use of them! Clear the leaves from around where you live. Those of you that get a gardener to blow your drives clear into the roads! Put them in your green bin! It’s not hard! I hear you say “that’s the job of the council! That’s why I pay council tax” We will be paying even more if it keeps going on like this! Let’s give a little helping hand. I am willing to get a map (if possible) of the grids of Alderley. Walk the streets and mark on the map, which grids need sorting out! So if you have a grid near you? Just keep an eye on it. Not hard, won’t take a minute but eventually if we get our grid and gully system working again in our village and we keep on top of it then we hopefully will be doing our bit in reducing flood problems.
Go out with a long stick and poke it into the drains that are blocked with leaves and silt [because they are not cleared often enough] in order to help the water away? If we did would we then receive a rebate on our council tax for doing the work that we pay Cheshire East to do for us in the first instance?
Resilience (Chambers Dictionary) = recoil/elasticity/in spirits.
Conjures up some strange images? A happy chap bouncing the water away !
I was involved in a project initiated by Cllr Ruth Norbury a few years ago whereby every street drain in the Village was inspected and a detailed report was compiled and presented to CE for action. It was pretty simple stuff and involved a group of folk wandering round the village with a stout stick and a notebook for inspection and recording purposes
I can say that many of the drains that I prodded were either badly silted up or completely blocked and it was evident that they had been for some considerable time (probably years)
I would further say that nothing has been done since, as many of those same drains remain completely blocked.