Flooded roads 'an accident waiting to happen'

Residents in a Staffordshire village say they feel stranded after ankle-deep water has been flooding roads around their homes for weeks.

The problem in the Aston Lane area of Aston, near Stone, has been an ongoing issue for almost 30 years – but has been particularly bad this winter, according to locals.

Some people told BBC Radio Stoke the waters had led to their bins not being collected for weeks and delivery drivers have been unable to reach them.

Staffordshire County Council said it planned to fix a section of drainage in the area and would meet with residents in "the next couple of days" to update them.

"We are aware of this issue and sympathise with residents of this lane where there is a significant flooding problem," said Peter Mason, cabinet member for strategic highways.

"Our team has attended the site and whilst carrying out jet washing of the drain, identified a damaged pipe running under a bridge at the end of the road.

"This section of pipe will now need to be replaced as soon as possible in our future works programme."

Resident Tracie Cadman described the situation as "an accident waiting to happen."

"It's coming further and further up the driveways, it's leaving elderly residents trapped in their own homes," she said.

The most recent flooding was the worst she had ever seen it, she added.

Cadman said previous flooding had tended to soak away after a week or so, but that had not happened this time.

It had got so bad she needed to park her car away from her home.

"I just don't want to take the risk of driving through it," she said.

She said it had been reported to the council and her local MP a number of times – but to date there had been no solution to the problem.

The authority placed flood signs on affected roads, she said, but there had been no communication about what was being done.

Another resident, Debbie Sinclair, said the street was drained by a natural stream which ran through people's front gardens and then underneath driveways.

She believed there was now an obstruction in the underground portion of this, preventing the water from draining away.

The large pool of standing water was causing numerous access issues and was also causing further damaging to the road surface underneath, she said.

"We've been told it's not an urgent or health risk issue," she said.

"But because we've had stagnant water for over three weeks and the road has crumbled underneath with massive potholes, we can't walk safely.

"We've had to drag our bins up the lane to a dry area for the bins to be collected for over four weeks now.

"We don't get deliveries. Elderly people are trapped because the smaller cars can't get through."

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