Rain deluge leaves gardens covered in sewage
HOMES in Ings Crescent and Valley Court, Littletown, were left with raw sewage in their gardens following the weekend’s heavy downpours.
Drains backed up during the deluge and the sewage spilled out leaving debris in the gardens.
Spen MP Mike Wood visited several of the affected residents this week and says he is pressing Yorkshire Water to carry out a site visit to discover the source of the problem.
Three and a half years ago the homes were left under several feet of water after the River Spen breached its banks, and just 12 months later they were flooded again leading to a campaign for action.
This time the river did not breach but the drains could not cope with the surge of water.
Mr Wood said: “It ended up an inch below the air bricks of the houses in Ings Crescent and subsided - but another inch and they would have been flooded again. It was grossly offensive stuff because it was sewage.
“I am in touch with YW with regards to the sewer and if it’s not big enough to take the volume of water, we need a bigger sewer.
“We are still fighting to get funding reinstated for Spen’s flood defence scheme which was axed by the Environment Agency in the summer, but in the meantime we’ve enlisted a Leeds University engineering student to help identify specific things householders can do.”
Ward councillor Margaret Bates has also spoken to YW after being contacted by Valley Court residents.
“They have confirmed they are going to do an investigation before the end of the year,” she said.
“The findings will be passed to their Flood Strategy Team, and they will then liaise with other agencies, and contact us and the residents.”
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Weather for Cleckheaton
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
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