Why are gullies left unattended until storms reveal they are blocked?
Cheshire East Council’s policy for gully emptying is to save money by emptying gullies only once per year (twice on rural roads without kerbs) and to deal with local flooding. The reduced standard of gully emptying has had a knock-on effect on other drainage blockages with silt and detritus sometimes blocking the rest of the drainage system. Carriageway sweeping is done by Cheshire East Council, under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act, and, if the sweeping frequencies were to be increased, particularly in the Autumn leaf fall, then this would have a major benefit on the amount of detritus blocking roadside gullies.
