Cotswolds need more help as carers wade through flood sewage

Council leader Joe Harris said "it is simply not fair that residents have had to deal with this"

More support is needed for residents trying to clear raw sewage which has mixed with floodwater, a local councillor has said.

District council leader Joe Harris said carers have been "forced to wade through sewage contaminated floodwater" in parts of the flood-hit Cotswolds.

He is now calling on Thames Water to do more to help flooded property owners.

Thames Water said it has had engineers in the area helping to "pump away water and clean up as best we can".

Mr Harris said in a statement: "There needs to be a clear plan to prevent river water infiltrating sewage systems on this scale again - it is simply not fair that residents have had to deal with this.

"We have witnessed carers arriving to provide essential personal care to elderly and vulnerable residents and being forced to wade through sewage contaminated floodwater."

Snow and ice have brought treacherous conditions to many parts of Gloucestershire that were already trying to deal with flooding following heavy rainfall.

In the south Cotswolds, river levels have now started to recede after rain caused homes and roads to flood.

Overflowing rivers caused homes and roads to flood

Mr Harris told the BBC that everybody needs to ask themselves "searching questions" about what can be done to prevent repeated flooding in the future.

"It's two Christmases now that have been ruined in the last 10 years and it's not good enough," he said.

A Thames Water spokesman said that they "sympathise with everyone affected by the flooding".

"When the river burst it flooded everything in its path including our sewer network along with other utility services," he said.

"While sewers are designed to cope with some excess water entering the system, they can't always deal with the sheer volume of fast flowing flood water pouring into them when nearby rivers burst.

"We've had engineers in Cirencester in recent days working with fellow partners from the Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum to pump away water and clean up as best we can where our sewers have been impacted."

Houses in the village of Siddington, south of Cirencester on the River Churn, have also flooded.

Resident Jan Bayley said: "There are sluices all down the river but nobody maintains them and they are not managed, so the water should never be escaping in the first place."

Paul Berkeley added: "They are having to spend a lot of money bringing us sandbags and all the assistance, that money would be better spent if they sorted the problem out in the first place,"

A council flood report in 2016 recommended flood water storage upstream along the River Churn if funding could be secured.

The Environment Agency said in a statement that it had deployed temporary flood defences in Cirencester over the Christmas break which helped protect the community during the flooding.