This morning I met with community councillors and residents in Llyswen, along with representatives of Powys County Council to discuss the problem with flooding in Church Lane that has occurred over a number of years, which residents believe has got progressively worse over the past months.

It appears that a culvert is blocked or broken and this is causing the flow of water to the stream to slow up, which has consequences when there is heavy rainfall of flooding in the lane. Church Lane of course leads to a number of properties and the floods that have occurred, although not directly effecting properties, causes a great number of problems to residents trying to access or leave their properties via Church Lane.

Why the Question of responsibility?

We need to find out who is responsible for the problem culvert. It appears that this culvert was installed back in 1976 but who is responsible for it we are not sure. The helpful people from the council are going back to look in the archives to try and find out more information.

Of course, the problem is financing any repairs. I can understand the councils view – that they don’t want to be paying out for repairing or even replacing the culvert if it is not their responsibility. There are tremendous strains on the budget and it looks like the highways maintenance may be struggling again in the next financial year.

But of course, and quite rightly, residents are concerned and want this problem resolved as quickly as possible. Let’s hope this gets sorted out once and for all – whoever is responsible – so the residents of Church Lane don’t need to rely on their wellies all winter.

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