'£50,000 should be spent on Bromsgrove flood prevention'

Buy photos » The new diagonally shaped grilles designed to push rubbish upwards and allow water through. (s)

THE DISTRICT council's cabinet has proposed to spend more than £50,000 on flood prevention measures across Bromsgrove which is hoped will stop much of the disruption suffered by residents during a wet 2012.

At the council's last cabinet meeting, it was claimed the main problem was rubbish gathering at the entrances of culvert drains, due to vertical trash screens which were intended to block debris getting further down into the sewage network.

Coun Mike Webb claimed heavy rain caused the rubbish to build up and stop the water coming through, causing it to overflow on to surrounding streets.

He proposed the council replace the screens with diagonal grilles - costing £3,400 each - which cause the rubbish to be pushed upwards while still allowing the water through.

In total £37,400 will be spent on installing 11 of the screens in vulnerable areas already identified around the town.

Another £17,000 will be set aside to fund five more grilles should they be needed.

Coun Webb said it cost the council £400 every time there were instances of flooding because contractors had to be called out on evenings and weekends just to clear away trash from the metal screens.

A report claimed officers were called out more than once a month between June and December last year to do just that at a total cost of £3,000.

The new grilles are also made out of strengthened plastic to deter theft.

Coun Webb said: "Residents are concerned they are going to get flooded every time it rains.

"It is difficult to mitigate all flooding in the district, but some areas can improve very quickly by changing the grilles.

"Every instance I went out to last year was due to a blocked grille.

"It's important the public know work is being done."

Cabinet members agreed to the proposals and a final decision on whether to approve them will be made at the next full council meeting in May.

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