Road Flooding and repair costs

nanogoo

Registered User
Messages
13
Hi,

One year ago I purchased a house. Outside the boundary wall which meets a public road, there was pooling of water prior to the purchase of the house. We hired a company to tarmacadam the drive way and to complete the apron outside the boundary wall which meets the public road. No gullies were installed by the tarmacadam company and since then the flooding has become really bad. However, its important to note that the stretch of road where the house is, resides at the lowest point in the stretch of road and water flows from both sides of the road into an area which pools just outside of our house. Its possible that gullies would not suffice for the quantity of water that builds up. Its also important to mention that the stretch of road has been overdeveloped in the last 10 years and no proper road drainage has been provided as there is consistent flooding in other patches along the same stretch of road (just not as bad as the flooding outside my gates).

However, the neighbours have made complaints to the county council, who have since approached us and asked us to fix the flooding issue outside our wall. I pushed back on this, because we are not responsible for the flooding that occurs on the road and the council admitted that we were not at fault. However, since then, we have worked with the council to try and resolve the issue with the county council proposing that they would offer to pay for some of the costs associated with resolving the flooding while we are expected to pay up to approx half of the costs just to see the issue resolved. The estimated cost of the works comes to 7.5K which will see piping layed along the road to carry the water to a new soak pit which is being placed a few meters down the road from us. New gullies will be installed along the apron outside the boundary wall and drains to be placed at the lowest points along the road and the costs also include the cost of relaying tarmac along the road and redoing the apron outside the boundary wall of our site.

I am generally looking for advice on this situation with respect to whether people out there think I should be paying to see the flooding issue resolved when the county council are supposed to be responsible for public roads. I was made redundant recently and because I am no longer in a position to pay out this money the county council have indicated they could consider taking a more legal route to resolve the issue as well as notifying the RSA(Road Safety Authority) about the issue.

Thanks,
Nanogoo.
 
While I know money is tight and it probably is not your fault, it would be prudent to come to some kind of agreement to make sure your house never floods. A small investment now could be worth a lot in the long run.
 
By laying macadam outside your boudary wall without installing gullies, you have made a poor drainage problem even worse. The Council will argue that you are partly responsible for the problem and therefore should contribute to fixing the problem.

Had the Council laid the macadam without installing adequate drainage, then you would have had a strong case that they should pay for remedial works.

Unfortunately in this case you will have to come to some financial arrangement with the Council or risk further flooding and possible legal action from the Council and/or your neighbours.
 
Back
Top