The council's plan to cut spending on drain and gulley clearingby a quarter could have a major impact on us here in Weston village.
The centre of Weston has experienced serious flooding severaltimes in recent years, and if not enough is done to keepwatercourses, drains and gullies cleared then we are certain to seethis again.
In the past couple of years, we have managed to prevent sceneslike the ones we saw a few years back when the whole of Weston HighStreet was blocked with major flooding. But this has only beenachieved by persuading both the council and Wessex Water to do moreto prevent the flooding, increase the capacity of the watercourse,and clear the drains and gullies frequently.
If the Liberal Democrats go ahead with this cut, it will provehighly short-sighted and be a huge backward step for Weston.Flooding costs money, both to the council as well as residents, interms of repairs to property, the drainage system and roads. Cuttingthe gulley cleaning budget now will only result in furtherexpenditure down the road.
The council currently clears drains and gullies at least twice ayear, and in the worst areas up to four times a year. I wouldconsider even this to be the minimum needed, but with a 25 per centbudget cut this level of service simply cannot be maintained, and somany areas will have their drains and gullies cleared just once ayear. Residents in Weston will clearly be alarmed by the prospectgiven past experience. We will be pressing the council to look againat this funding cut, as the Pounds 100,000 it saves is relativelysmall in an organisation with a budget of over Pounds 300 million.We will certainly be pressing the council on the importance ofmaintaining regular gulley clearing in Weston in particular, andwould ask residents to help us make this case forcefully.
COUNCILLOR COLIN BARRETT, COUNCILLOR MALCOLM LEES (Cons, Weston)
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