Pub owner says council should do more (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Pub owner says council should do more

8:52am Wednesday 16th January 2008 in Swindon

A PUB landlord has slammed Swindon Council for its flood relief policy.

Bob Feal-Martinez, landlord of the Carpenters Arms Pub, South Marston, says it is the duty of the council to ensure private residents maintain their gutters, drains and pipes.

He also believes it is the authority's responsibility to hand out sandbags for which it received £250,000 from the Government - something he says the council is no longer doing.

After seeing an inch of rain fall on the village yesterday, he said: "I called the council today to ask for sandbags and they say they are no longer handing them out and told me I'd have to buy them.

"But I am under threat from the flooding, partly because of their lack of action.

"They were given £250,000 by the Government after the last floods, meaning £50,000 for reparations and £200,000 for future floods. So where did that money go?"

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Mr Feal-Martinez says that since being hit with about £4,000 of flood damage in July, he has spent a further £2,000 updating his flood relief systems.

But he says that his neighbours have not cleared their drains and gutters, resulting in a river of surface water in his street every time it rains.

He added: "Every time it rains you have a running river across the road.

"Pipes that have been broken have not been fixed for years and the council needs to make sure this happens.

"Every time there is a downpour we fear there could be floods. You would think the council would have dealt with all this by now.

"There is one drainage engineer because the council have let the rest go, so basically they are cutting back when they should be adding."

A Swindon Council spokeswoman said: "On the main carriageway through South Marston there are no road gullies. To help alleviate any problems, we grip-cut the verges annually to ensure the water flows away freely. We will also be investigating the capacity of a culvert underneath the carriageway.

"In addition, it is the responsibility of the landowners to ensure roadside ditches, culverts and water courses are maintained to help prevent any flooding.

"It is the council's responsibility to look after highway drainage and some land drainage and a team of staff are involved in this process."