Firm’s plea for council to manage flood risk
BUSINESS OWNER ‘STUCK IN MIDDLE’ AMID ROW OVER CLOGGED CULVERT
BUSINESS owners in a mill are pleading with authorities to step up their flood maintenance in order to prevent ‘catastrophic’ flooding again.
The Welkin Mill, on Welkin Road – in Bredbury, Stockport – most recently flooded in January this year, causing thousands in damage to a cardboard box company on the ground floor.
“We had lots of damage,” Ankit Patel, owner of Boxomatic, said. “Once the [boxes] get wet we cannot use them. The machine had to be cleaned, too.
“It had a catastrophic effect, causing about £7,000-or-£8,000 of damage.”
Now, after a dispute with Stockport council, and National Highways, another firm is calling on the agencies to put a ‘long term maintenance plan’ in place to manage the risk of flood water coming into the mill.
Central to the dispute is a cloggedup-culvert which runs underneath Welkin Road, that connects a stream on nearby woodland to the River Goyt.
Matt Butler, operations director at MoviEscape, says no public body he has spoken to will accept responsibility for the culvert, which is a tunnel that passes water underground.
However, the council says that it is attempting to ‘establish responsibility within the next few months’ and it cleaned it recently as an ‘emergency measure.’
“There was flooding in January 2021 – prior to that Welkin Road has flooded going back years,” Matt said. “The council says National Highways [is responsible for it] but it is on their land. National Highways say they have no record of it. We are stuck in the middle.”
While Matt welcomes the council’s move to clean the drain, he insists that it is still a ticking time-bomb without a more long-term vision.
He added: “They did clear it out but they are still not accepting responsibility. This has a massive impact on so many businesses who get flood damage yearly.”
Bosses at the council says the culvert is not its responsibility – but is attempting to sort out who should look after it.
“The culvert runs through land owned by the council and under the unadopted Welkin Road,” a spokesperson said. “We have cleaned the culvert out as an emergency measure even though we do not consider the council is responsible for the culvert.
“We hope to definitively establish responsibility for the culvert within the next few months.”