Heavy rain left a key road junction flooded in Brighton yesterday (Monday 20 October).
And today Brighton and Hove City Council has called on Southern Water to take urgent action after the A23 flooded at Preston Circus.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, said: “It was devastating to see the flooding in Preston Circus following yesterday’s heavy rainfall.
“I know this seriously impacts residents and businesses, both emotionally and financially.
“Having spoken with council officers, we carried out major gully clearing in the area in July. They were inspected and cleared again three weeks ago ahead of Storm Amy.
“We’re confident the gullies were operating as they should but we’ll continue to review our drainage cleaning policy to ensure resources are directed to the most critical locations.
“Unfortunately, this area connects to Southern Water’s sewer system which is likely to have been running at full capacity, meaning water wasn’t able to drain away effectively.
“I’ll be meeting with Southern Water this week, calling on them again to work collaboratively with the council on a strategic approach to urgently fix the problems which have caused our residents so much distress and frustration for several years now.
“It’s crucial Brighton and Hove has an infrastructure which is fit for purpose and able to cope with the growing number of severe weather incidents being caused by climate change.”
The Old Village, in Portslade, was also among the areas to have flooded yesterday.
I wonder how much of the “flooding” on Monday was down to Brighton council’s inability to clean /unblock drains – something that is their responsibility not Southern Waters despite what Muten claims. When my wife contacted them about the blocked drains in our road the council employee she spoke to told told her “It doesn’t matter the water will just run down the road…”
I would also like to thank councillor Trevor Muten for almost doubling the time of my bus journey from Churchill Square to Lewes Road thanks to the ludicrous VG 3 “improvements” creating a tailback from Churchill Square all the way to the east side of the Old Steine. When I finally got off the 29 at Lewes Road at the bus depot the bus driver lamented “I should have been leaving Lewes by now”. Brighton Council improving the public transport experiance indeed!
Businesses in the area have been writing to the council for 2 years, so when Councillor Trevor Muten says it’s “devastating” now, I’d actually prefer him to explain why businesses calls for action have been ignored before.
Ever get the feeling that Trevor’s solution would be for the council to hand out long sticks and biodegradable water wings to all the residents and businesses to do what the Council tax should cover? Wait until the first insurance company claim against the City for negligence.