Reader's letter

I live in an area which used to have no problems with flooding, but since 2008 we have been flooded or been close to being flooded on several occasions and it is getting more frequent and in greater volume every time. We live in Burscough near a railway line and there are two watercourses within a quarter of a mile. These take the majority of water from both the north and south side of the railway for the majority of the land to the west of the A59. Around 1.00am on Wednesday 31st July after heavy rain, the drainage systems were overwhelmed yet again. Both were full, and water was running down Orrell Lane like a river and couldn’t get into the already full watercourse by Orrell Lane and had nowhere else to go but back toward our homes - threatening them with flooding.

Our neighbour's home was threatened, and he has taken video footage of the waters receding from his doorstep an hour after getting his waterpumps started. He also took the time to go and video the flood on Orrell Lane and Crabtree Lane. If you want to search on YouTube for the video,(search; foul contaminated water crabtree lane), then you can hear he is out of breath, slightly confused, panicking and distressed. Although the video was taken in the dark, what should hopefully come across in the video is a sense of what it feels like to have your home and your possessions threatened in the middle of the night and having to deal with it on your own, with no one to turn to. On Boxing day, 2015, there was serious flooding here where a number of houses were flooded, my next door Neighbours, who were very elderly had to leave their home, the clean up and repairs for some of my other neighbours took several months.

The Authorities were made aware of this, lots of meetings and lots of talking has taken place since, but I can’t see any evidence of any action taking place. I have seen a lot more building of new houses going on though.

My neighbour - an old age pensioner with a chronic respiratory condition - took the initiative and invested in a huge diesel driven 6 inch waterpump, dug up around 300 feet of his lawn and installed 2 drainage pipes to bypass one of the known blockages which Network Rail refuse to address.

Fortunately for all of us here, his system worked well and saved at least four houses from being flooded, but I think it is absolutely shameful that whilst the authorities sit around talking endlessly an OAP with asthma is the only one who saved us. When are the authorities going to focus on preserving established homes and communities rather than finding ways to make more money with more and more development?

Peter Curl, 79 Crabtree Lane, Burscough

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RGdbFMOf1k