Water on the road
from Windmill Hill towards Otterham Quay Lane.
I
have for the last two weeks been concentrating my efforts on seeking a
resolution to this highways problem after receiving numerous complaints from
residents following the recent spell of cold weather. In this period the
offending gulley has been tested by Southern Water, Kent Highway Services have
undertaken closed circuit television viewing and it has been visited by
contractors working on behalf of Kent Highway Services.
As
of today Thursday 20th December I can report the following.
Contractors
have cleared out the very shallow gulley at the top of Windmill Hill from where
the water was spilling onto the highway. After was emptied the Kent Highway
Services engineer has found no evidence of any water ingress into the gulley
except for a trickle of natural ground water at the bottom. He
also advises that there is no evidence of faults from other piped water systems
in the area.
The
engineer will therefore recommend that the gulley will be used as a chamber for
catchment of water from which an underground pipe will be laid down the
hill to an existing gulley at the bottom. The guesstimated
cost of this work will be around £25k which will need to be found from the KHS
2013/14 budget.
This
means that no remedial work will be undertaken in the short term. I therefore
stressed that he also reports back the need for gritting when ice is predicted.
The engineer agreed to do that. However
he pointed out that wet weather could wash the gritting away before the temperature
dropped below zero. In this case firstly there is a roadside slat bin in
that location and secondly local residents if they note that it has happened
should ask for some spot salting by KHS by phoning: 08548 247 800.
Please
write to County Cllr Keith Ferrin asking for his support to the funding of this
scheme in 2013/14.
Regards
Gerry Lewin
135 Oak Lane, Upchurch ME9 7AY. Tel: 01634 366113 or Email: lewing135@btinternet.com
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