The landlord of a house in Sudbury has demanded an immediate investigation to be undertaken by Sudbury Town Council, to find out what has caused repeated flooding in East Street where his property is situated.

In June the road was badly flooded after a torrential downpour which left many homes needing extensive repairs after they were under several feet of water.

 

Landlord Paul Johnson attended one of Sudbury Town Council's meeting and said: “I would like to raise our extreme concerns about the problems encountered with the reoccurring floods.

“Although the flash flood may have been unprecedented, we have nevertheless experienced many more, not to mention near misses, in the past.

“We don’t expect it to be a high-risk flood area – it’s not by a river or on a flood plain.”

Within the flooded area twenty properties had been severely damaged by the tide of water and Mr Johnson has protested to the council by organising a petition.

“This is not only devastating for the residents, but disrupting, inconvenient, costly and carries a health risk,” he said.

One of the residents living on East Street had to vacate his home, such was the extent of the damage after four occurrences of flood damage, Mr Johnson said that this is the equivalent of being flooded once every fifth year and added that: “This is totally unacceptable.”

Johnson was highly critical of both Suffolk County and Babergh District Councils attempts to stop the floods taking place, describing Suffolk's guarantees to carry out work on the drains as being, “after the horse had bolted.”

Earlier in the week the district council ordered that the gullies should be cleared and this task was duly carried out by workmen. Mr Johnson had complained that water levels reached the level of the drain covers spewing foul smelling and stagnant water. 

The landlord has called for an intensive investigation of the drains to find out if there are any collapses in the system or blockages. He has also told Babergh that it is their duty to provide adequate flood protection for residents.

Johnson said that all the council gives householders at risk from further flooding, are flimsy wooden boards to stop flood water from entering their properties, instead of investing in hi-tech, self-closing flood gates.

“The council has a vested interest to protect its assets,” he said.

A district council spokesman responded that their officers had visited all of the residents at risk to check out the homes and give helpful advice. It was found that since the last floods many of the properties had no flood boards and the spokesman pointed out that the council would set this right. 

In an attempt to reassure residents that a joint investigation would be undertaken by themselves and Suffolk County Council as soon as five or more flood reports were received.

One more flood to go then.