"Astonishing complacency": Labour say better drain clearing would have made no difference during New Year floods

TLD

31 Jan 2025

Trafford’s Liberal Democrat group hit out at the ruling Labour Party during a meeting of Trafford Council this week (29 Jan) over claims made by several Labour members that better drain clearance would have made no difference to the New Year's Day floods.

At the meeting, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader councillor Will Frass said, "Drainage and leaf clearance has been a complete disgrace - stop any resident in the street and they will agree. But whoever is marking AMEY's homework is on a completely different planet."

"Labour are giving Amey top marks for drain clearance month after month!"

Trafford Liberal Democrats set out a proposal to put more drain-clearing crews on the streets at weekends to make the best use of the equipment the Council has - currently expensive gully-clearing machines sit idle many weekends.

But Labour members dismissed the idea that better drain maintenance plays a role in helping to protect residents from flash flooding and defended the performance of council contractor AMEY - who are responsible for drains and leaf clearance. The Liberal Democrat plan was voted down by the Labour Group.

Speaking after the vote, councillor Frass said, "This is astonishing complacency from Labour. In many places a clear drain could have stopped water crossing the threshold of people's homes. Clearing drains would not have completely stopped the worst flooding in decades, but you can't tell me it wouldn't have made a big difference."

"Residents hit by New Year's Day floods told us that climate change is only going to make flooding worse. So it was pathetic to see the only contribution the Conservatives brought to the table was to rule out any reference to climate change."

One Trafford's Annual Performance Report Reference to AMEY's KPIs as approved by Trafford Council is shown in this document. KPI 35 relates to the percentage of gullies cleared in accordance with agreed frequency and shows 100% completion across the board

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