At last we may have movement at Essex County Council on Watery Lane.
Yesterday Cllrs Michael & Diane Hoy, along with Cllr Keith Hudson, met with County Highways Chief Engineer and Rochford’s Chief Engineer.
Michael put forward the points
- Immediate action was needed to make the road passable. His view was the drains/culverts needed cleaning as they were blocked by sediment and then the water could be pumped away. The drainage could then cope with the water continuing to drain from the fields and the road could be opened.
- There would be a need for regular monthly maintenance and additional maintenance at times of flooding. It is accepted that Watery Lane, being the actual original course of the stream running next to it, will probably flood a few days each year despite any work carried out on it (unless the bed is raised a few feet).
- Work in the longer term was needed to make sure the road would not flood so badly again, which could include additional drainage.
Today Michael has been told by Essex County Council that Contractors will be on site today and as this is written we are being told by a resident in Watery Lane that tankers have arrived and the water is being pumped into them. However it appears that someone has complained about the noise and, although the tankers have a licence to pump for 24hrs, they will now have to stop at 7.00pm. Hopefully this will be sorted out soon and they will continue to work.
As the pumping and other work will be continuing Watery Lane will still remain closed tomorrow. The road will not be passable as two 4,000 gallons will be blocking the road and people will be working on it. Please do not try and take this short cut as you will have to turn back.
We are checking a few more issues tonight and will write further on this tomorrow.
A Green Read 
I think that we now have an emergency situation in Watery Lane, and any complaints should be ignored. Again we have a weak response from ECC in bowing to a minority. Small minded complainants should be ignored for the greater good.
Overall good news though, even if it was a long time coming
Could we have the names of the ECC and Rochford engineers please?
I couldn’t agree more. I bet if the complainants house was at significant risk of flooding they would keep their mouth shut. Sadly this is all in a days work for me as I work for a company doing good, removing properties from the OFWAT flood risk list. Fingers crossed the road reopens soon, I remember how bad it was!
With all this work and money being spent watery lane will flood again. This is only a short term fix so the councillors will go away. Its obvious as a user of the road for the last 40 years it needs money is needed to be spending on it to bring it into the 21century, after all it is one of the main hub roads to chelmsford wickford and beyond.
So what is the county council going to spend the 50 million the government have given them. filling in the pot holes or putting the money to good use.
We agree Paul. No coincidence money becomes available in an election year for the County Council either.