There has been little effort to address the accumulating problems that have resulted in lack of Council maintenance. We seem more focused on the cosmetics and forgetful of the fundamentals.
Since the Victorian days towns had regular grid cleaning programmes with 6mth or yearly visits, usually after the Autumn road sweeping to clear fallen leaves from the grids. Now not only is earth choking the traps in the grids, but in some is level with the grid cover. This is senseless since silt is flushed into the sewers and any blocked sewer is an expensive operation to remedy. Who are these people in the Council that dare to ignore logical maintenance programmes?
To cover the whole of East Cheshire I am informed that only three grid cleaning teams exist. This is not enough to cover every road in each borough as many floods are caused by neglected drain blockages during downpours. Some grid covers have not been lifted in five years. The photographs were taken in Wilmslow centre on the A34 showing solid earth underneath fallen blossom. One section has not even been swept.
Our new Council members need to be 'a new brush sweeping clean' and remedy this disgrace before we find main roads dug up to clean out blocked sewers at enormous expense.
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I'm curious. Do you have children? Grandchildren? Anyone who will probably live longer than you and who you care about?
Do you watch/ like to watch David Attenborough programmes? What do you think of them?
Gandalf forbid that she makes us pack away permanently our outside wood-burners,and extremely necessary gas-guzzling cars.
Temper tantrums? From a 16-year old who just wants to get her way? Who is THAT driven? And has Asperger's?
Mind you, it's wise to judge people without knowing them well - that way, you can just dismiss her as an irrelevance.
Do not make ANY comment about this topic until you have walked around your local streets in Wilmslow or Alderley Edge and made a record - either digitally or on paper - of the state of the grids on our roads. Grade the grids as CLEAR[no debris and water in view], containing debris and dry[leaves, twigs] but able to drain water and blocked[full of silt to the top and no possibility of water entering, evidence of 'nature' growing out of the silt].
Then make an assessment of the state of the road drainage of the roads you have walked. A minimum of 100 grids should be inspected. If you want a choice selection of roads to inspect `I suggest you start down by Wilmslow Parish Hall [where you can park] and go up Cliff Road, along Styal Road to Manchester Road, left to Stanneylands Road, further if you wish towards Handforth otherwise back to Wilmslow and down to the King William pub, up to the lights at Station Road and back to the King William. left to the church and back to your car.
I photographed most of this area in 2011 and sent a CD with photos to my councillor - Don Stockton. I got the usual 'concerned' reply and how the matter would be dealt with. Nothing much happened and the grids have been blocked ever since. THAT IS WHY I DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS COUNCILLOR AGAIN - but he still was elected - presumably by residents who walk around with their eyes shut and do not care or blind, dyed-in-the-wool blue Tories who are afraid to have someone as a councillor who might improve things.
Then contact your local councillor and ask why these grids are blocked.