Northwich flooding: 'More must be done' to protect flood-hit town

Many businesses in the town centre were flooded for the second time in two years

Immediate contingency measures are needed to prevent further flooding in Northwich, a council leader has warned.

The town suffered severe flooding for a second time in two years as the recent Storm Christoph swept across the UK, bringing heavy rainfall and snow.

Cheshire West and Chester Council's Louise Gittins said United Utilities should bring in new emergency pumps.

A petition urging the council to "put a plan in place" to stop a reoccurrence has gained more than 1,000 signatures.

Lead petitioner Alexandra Jarvis, a local resident, said "We can't allow this to keep happening.

"Whoever is responsible needs to be taken to task and a plan put in place so that our town does not have to keep enduring this nightmare time and again."

January's flooding was the second such incident since flood defences were installed along the River Weaver in 2017.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said the defences worked on both occasions and that "the issue was with surface water drainage".

In a letter to United Utilities chief executive Steve Mogford, Ms Gittins said "urgent action is now required for the areas affected by Storm Christoph, and in particular Northwich town centre".

She said the firm should "immediately implement contingency measures to provide assurance that surface water flooding will be mitigated as far as practically possible".

"I understand this is likely to require additional pumping apparatus," she added.

United Utilities is responsible for the town's sewer system, which includes pumping stations that send water to a nearby waste water treatment works.

The council is responsible managing for drains and gullies on the highway network which flow into the sewers.

Dozens of pensioners needed to be rescued in boats from Weaver Court retirement village

A spokesman for the firm said: "The sewer network in Northwich operated as designed, however the record water levels in the River Weaver naturally prevented the town's drainage overflow systems from operating.

"The answer to Northwich's flooding problem must be a joined-up approach."

An interim council investigation into the flooding in Northwich in 2019 was published last year.

It said the council and United Utilities should "survey" and "review" the parts of the drainage system they are responsible for.

Ms Gittins said: "A number of recommendations from the interim report have already been acted upon, without which we may have been in an even more dangerous situation last week."

A finalised version of the report into the 2019 floods is due to be published next month, but Ms Jarvis said the process had not been "concluded fast enough".

The council said a new investigation into January's flooding would begin "at the earliest opportunity" and would be made public "in due course".