Resident calls for action to stop frequent flooding of railway bridge between Rugby and Church Lawford

The section of road underneath the bridge appears to be particularly vulnerable to flooding. Photo: Google Streetview.

A Church Lawford resident is calling on the county council to take more action to stop the frequent flooding of a railway bridge between Rugby and Church Lawford.

Robert Woodford contacted the Advertiser after speaking with Warwickshire County Council to ask if the drains by the Skew Bridge on the A428 could be cleaned more often to prevent flooding.

He said the drains are being allowed to fill with soil to the point they are completely clogged - leaving that stretch of road extremely vulnerable to flooding.

Soil clogging the drains. Picture submitted by Mr Woodford.

Mr Woodford said: "I have spoken to the county council twice, once in March and then in July - something needs to be done.

"Knowing the history of that bridge, I can't see why Warwickshire County Council can't clean the drain out once a month.

"Last time we had more than 6mm of rain the whole section of road under the bridge was flooded again.

"It's dangerous - especially if someone is travelling on that road unknowingly.

"And we get people having to divert onto single track lanes to bypass the flooding.

"Ambulance, police and fire use that road as a main route too."

In November last year the Advertiser reported that firefighters had to rescue and woman and five children from floodwater under the bridge after the vehicle they were travelling in became marooned.

A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council told the advertiser that the drains at the bridge are presently cleaned annually, although highways officers monitor the site and clean where they believe necessary.

The spokesperson said: "All highway gullies are cleansed annually (once a year) on a cyclical basis as part of the highway maintenance programme.

"County Highways locality officers frequently monitors site where known highway flooding issues occur and issue ad-hoc jetting orders as necessary, the A428 (Skew Bridge) is identified as one of these sites.

"In regards to the flooding last winter, a large amount of material (carpet and underlay) had been fly-tipped on the banks of the watercourse in private land upstream.

"This had become trapped against security screen on the downstream end of the railway culvert and caused a blockage to flows.

"The material was removed by Network Rail to prevent further flooding, and the screen later removed to prevent similar instances occurring in the future."