High Peak residents call for action to help protect their homes - as gardens flooded with sewage

Richard Harvey and Hannah Wardle live on Burlow Road with their 10-month-old and say the problem is getting worse.

Richard said: “When it rains the water is running down the road, the manholes and sewers are backing up and flooding our gardens with inches of dirty, filthy sewage.

“When the rain dries up it leaves behind a slit which smells really offensive and is slippery and dangerous.”

The flooding is now becoming a major issue and causing problems for the family.

Richard has prescription medication which is delivered to his home but now the drivers are refusing to call at the house as they are unable to access the property due to flooding.

He said: “Severn Trent has given us flood gates but the water still gets under the lip and floods the garden and it’s getting too much now.”

Hannah has lived at the house for 15 years and says there were not any flooding issues when she first moved in.

She fears new houses being built in the area could be contributing to the flooding issues

She added: “Land is flooding and it’s flooding our land and there is a very real worry how long it will be before it stops being just our gardens but our homes too.”

A spokesperson for Barratt Manchester said: “Our flood management strategy was approved by the Council, which included a comprehensive flood risk assessment prior to construction.

“The system installed discharges rain water to a ground basin rather than impacting on the existing local drainage network. It was recently inspected by engineers ahead of it being adopted and is working correctly, with no evidence of increased water flow into the existing public drainage systems along Burlow Road.

“However, we are aware that the extreme weather we have experienced over recent months has led to some water sitting on one section of the footpath. We are cleaning this to ensure that it is usable for residents.”

Severn Trent said it is only responsible for sewer flooding and said they have been out to speak to the residents of Burlow Road.

Regarding new developments, they say unfortunately they have no statutory powers to prevent a developer connecting to their network – although as the issue experienced by this customers was surface flooding, it would be incorrect to indicate any capacity issues with the network.

Zelia Lockett, waste networks regional lead at Severn Trent, said: “We're aware of flooding on Burlow Road which has been caused by the recent storms, and have resulted in rain water running down from the fields across the road.

“We’ve conducted extensive investigations in the area and all of our assets are clear and operating as they should be and have supported this customer in helping to get them in touch with the local council to see what other steps can be taken.”