‘Short-sighted’ cuts are behind grid blockages

FORMER leader of Oldham Council, Richard Knowles, says a "short-sighted budget cut" by the authority has resulted in hundreds of blocked grids in Saddleworth, causing flooding and poor road conditions.

Liberal Democrat Mr Knowles has hit out at Oldham Council for its decision to reduce vehicles responsible for clearing all of the borough's gully grids from three to one.

He says this decision is responsible for the amount of blocked grids throughout the borough and in particular the Saddleworth area.

However, Dave Hibbert, Oldham Council's Cabinet member for housing, planning and transport, says he strongly denies this claim and adds that more gullies are now cleaned each day than before this cut four years ago.

Councillor Hibbert also said that "unprecedented rainfall during December" has magnified the issue.

Mr Knowles - former Mayor of Oldham - says after seeing the issue grow worse over recent months, over the last few weeks he has noted down numerous blocked gully grids whilst taking short walks in Greenfield, Friezland and parts of Uppermill.

He has reported 56 blocked gully grids in a small area of Saddleworth in seven lists to Oldham Council. If replicated across Saddleworth and the rest of the borough, he says over 1,000 gully grids are likely to be blocked and causing flooding and damage to the roads.

Mr Knowles said: "In Saddleworth there must be at least several hundred blocked gully grids, with rainwater pouring down past blocked grids on many roads and flooding low-lying areas.

"Oldham Council used to use three gully grid cleaning vehicles, which enabled planned maintenance across the whole borough and reactive maintenance where there were localised problems. A short-sighted budget cut reduced the service to just one vehicle, the abandonment of planned borough-wide maintenance and a lack of capacity to keep road-edge gully grids from becoming blocked up with silt and rotted leaves.

"Badly blocked gullies need to be jetted out and sometimes dug out at great additional cost and time.

"The biggest problem with blocked gullies is in Saddleworth, with its many steep hillsides and rural and village roads. Anyone who walks round the area soon notices dozens of blocked grids, deterioration of tarmac road surfaces, with rain water eroded the surfaces and edges, and localised flooding.

"This serious problem can only be resolved by increasing the capacity of the gully grid cleaning team and vehicles."

Councillor Hibbert said: "Saddleworth is a rural area and residents have to accept that the concentration of leaves, dirt and similar silt will be higher in their neighbourhood than in urban areas.

"Gullies are cleaned in line with recognised guidelines on a cyclical basis, but there was unprecedented rainfall during December, thus causing higher levels of debris than usual. A new jetter unit has already been purchased to enable reactive maintenance to be more easily accommodated.

"Mr. Knowles’ main criticism is that a budget cut has resulted in the problems that he has reported. I totally reject his claim. Changes in shift patterns have resulted in a seven-day working week and the number of gullies cleaned each day has increased.

"The main problem areas affected by flooding were adjacent to the River Tame. The river is the responsibility of the Environment Agency.

"I have brought the matter to the attention of officers and they will be investigated in due course."

In response to four different lists of blocked gullies sent to Oldham Council by Mr Knowles, he says Unity Partnership stated that 10 of the 41 blocked grids "required further investigation" but said they are unable to provide information on the number and cost of "dig downs".

Mr Knowles has subsequently issued a Freedom of Information request to Oldham Council to identify: "How many of the Borough’s roadside gully grids have been so badly blocked in the last year that the one remaining vehicle covering all 43,000 gully grids cannot clear them and so they have required ‘dig downs’, and what is the cost in the last year of digging out gully grids to the Borough’s Council Taxpayers?"

He is waiting for the findings of this request.

Mr Knowles said: "Until they (Oldham Council) do something about it, I won't let it go."