Kent Lib Dems Press for Action on Drain Cleaning to Tackle Flooding

At a special County Council meeting on Thursday 13th March Lib Dem Councillors questioned the commitment of both Kent County Council; and the government to tackling road flooding in in Kent. Areas of Shepway have been particularly hit with flash flooding in recent years.

Trudy Dean Leader of KCC Lib Dems accused KCC of double standards in launching its Select Committee report on Flooding in Kent. Trudy said:

"This report was brave enough to point out that KCC's failure to empty drains has contributed to flooding problems. But we are not here today voting a single penny more to the highway services to increase frequency of the unblocking of drains. Lots of fine words - but no action."

Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Canterbury City South West, said:

"Last summer Kent thankfully avoided the river flooding other areas of England suffered. But we did suffer - during those repeated downpours - from extensive road flooding. This was because road drains were blocked, or were in urgent need of repair.

"Two years ago we were told by highways engineers that the money the Conservative administration were putting into drain repair was woefully inadequate. It would take, they said, 300 years at present rate of expenditure to get round to get all highways drains into proper condition.

"Have the administration taken road flooding seriously? I doubt it. Last year £1.9million was spent on drains - one sixth of what engineers said needed to be spent. We have now learnt that for 2008/9 there has been a ten percent cut. Where is the commitment?"

In the debate on floods and flood control Cllr. Dan Daley, Liberal Democrat Councillor Maidstone Central again called for a greater budget to be allocated to drain and gully cleaning in the urban areas. Dan said:

"I also called for acceptance of a recommendation from the KCC Select Committee which calls for the establishment of a special fund to deal with extreme weather conditions which can also lead to severe flood risk".