Local MP Jesse Norman has called for “long-term solutions” after Ross-on-Wye was struck by huge flash flooding on Broad Street and Brookend Street late on Sunday.
Torrents of water following a thunderstorm undermined the road surface and pavement in places, flooded shops, homes and basements and brought down a huge quantity of sand and debris.
Herefordshire Council and Balfour Beatty’s local roads team were on site from 930 am on Monday morning. They were joined later on by staff from Welsh Water. But there are still serious questions about what exactly caused the flooding, and how this damage can be prevented from recurring.
Commenting, Jesse said “I congratulate Councillors for their local leadership, and thank Council staff, Balfour Beatty and Welsh Water on the response to date.
“However, we really need to get to the bottom of this. Brookend Street was flooded a few years ago, but this looks far worse, and the damage to Broad Street has been horrendous.
“Only a few weeks ago we managed to secure an additional £102 million from central government for our local roads in Herefordshire, over and above the £106 million long-term roads settlement. So the funding should be in place to support a long-term solution for Ross, and it is vital that we have one.
“I am sure that Herefordshire Council and Balfour Beatty will want to prevent any possibility of further risk, which might occur with patched-up repairs to the road surface and pavements, which have already proved suspect in places and could potentially give way again.
“We need a long-term solution. But first of all we need to understand exactly what has gone wrong here, and why.”
Jesse has also given an interview to BBC Hereford & Worcester today expanding on these points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBcqmGqTE0
