Private road and flooding drains

[James_P]

hi all. We live on a private road and the drain outside our house for a number of years has been flooding the road. The committee have had it gulped a couple of times over the last 3 or 4 years but they know that the drains need completely replacing. After tonight's heavy rain it has now overflowed not for the first time into our drive and down into our garage which is connected to our home. Luckily I had some sand bags and kept the water out of the kitchen.

We have requested a meeting with the committee urgently to discuss options but does anyone have experience on what our rights are here? If the drains on a council road were shown to be sub standard and not just blocked causing flooding could you take the council to court? The road has over 100k in the accounts and they are very reluctant to spend anything as far as we can see.

[James_P]

Hi, yes they have done in the past, the last time was a couple of years ago. There are some big old trees that have destroyed the drains apparently so clearing them works but only temporarily

Many thanks

[James_P]

m3jappa said:

Not much help but could you put a raised lip at the front to divert elsewhere? Or can your drains on your drive be changed for something like acos which could connect into a storm drain(assuming you have one).

Hi, yes we have a decent (clear) drain connected to the sewer in front of garage but the volume of water that came down would overflow any drain.. The garage door wouldn't open with the weight of water behind it! We have a rubber strip to block leaves which gives a good seal but water found its way through.

[James_P]

guindilias said:

Not sure how it works with a private drain running off into a council one, but nearly any bust drain can be lined - basically a big sock gets blown into it, then inflated, than cured - it's fast and easy, not cheap but normally cheaper than dig&replace.

Interesting, will see if this is something that can be looked at, thanks

[James_P]

rog007 said:

Do you have any house or committee-type insurance that may cover it?

I am covered and am sure the road has some sort of insurance, I will be asking what cover the road has since the road drain is directly causing my property to flood.

[James_P]

Thanks for the replies.

There is a main sewer running down under the centre of the road, I need to look at the searches when we moved here but believe the gullies are under the private road responsibility. Don't know if the water of the gullies run into this.

SES are our water company