Staffordshire County Council is making significant strides in flood prevention and drainage improvement across the region, having cleared nearly 53,000 gullies this year.
Gully cleaning, which involves removing blockages like debris and waste from drains, is just one of the proactive measures employed by Staffordshire Highways to ensure effective drainage systems countywide.
There are 164,774 drains in Staffordshire. Last year, the county council’s eight crews cleared 67,745 drains – averaging more than 5,500 per month.
After Staffordshire was hit by one of the wettest and stormiest winters at the start of 2024, this led to reports of potholes and drainage issues tripling.
In response, the county council invested a further £8 million into fixing more roads across Staffordshire earlier this year.
This critical funding has enabled crews to clear 52,947 gullies since April – an increase of 18% compared to the same period last year – further bolstering the county’s defences against flooding and ensuring safer, more reliable infrastructure for residents.
Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Highways, Mark Deaville, said: “The heavy rains and strong winds brought by Storm Darragh tested our highways crews to the limit. This underscores the necessity of our ongoing investments into preventative maintenance.
“Our teams successfully cleared around 53,000 drains this year, playing a vital role in reducing flood risk. This is in addition to attending emergency flooding incidents, drainage dig downs and maintaining drainage ditches.
“We also know that severe weather often worsens road defects, which is why we committed an additional £8 million in May to repair road surfaces and undertake preventative measures to ensure we are prepared for wetter winters. This important funding has enabled us to fix more than 27,000 potholes and clean nearly 20% more gullies compared to this time last year.”
Flood prevention measures, carried out by Staffordshire Highways, include:
- Jetting Activities: High pressure jet-washers clear debris in non-running and slow-running gullies.
- Drainage/Camera Surveys: These find out why drainage systems are not working so highways crews know how to fix or unblock them.
- Drainage Dig Downs: If it is found that the faulty gully is caused by damage to existing drainage runs, highways crews will dig down and replace the pipework.
- Ditching Maintenance: Drainage ditches allow water to drain from the road where there is sometimes no connection to a mains drainage system. Please note that the responsibility of maintaining the majority of drainage ditches lies with the adjoining landowners.
- Linear Drainage Cleansing: Cleaning kerb drainage, slot drains and ACO drains.
- Attendance at Emergency Flooding incidents: Sites are attended by Staffordshire Highways crews to resolve flooding incidents and take measures to keep members of the public safe such as closing waterlogged roads.
