By\u00a0<\/em>James Bagley<\/a><\/u>\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0BagleyLDR<\/a><\/u>Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n A clogged part of the Wraysbury Drain by Feathers Lane, Wraysbury.<\/p>\n Picture by Ewan Larcombe – taken on Jan 9, 2022<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A FED-UP councillor has unleashed his fury as parts of an\u00a0<\/strong>important watercourse<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0remain clogged up despite promises this would be cleared.<\/strong><\/p>\n For nearly three years, parts of the ancient 2.5 miles long\u00a0Wraysbury Drain<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0have been blocked by debris, tree roots and gravel, disrupting the flow of the water and land drainage.<\/p>\n The drain, which is about 200 years old, runs from near Wraysbury train station to Hythe End, where it joins with the Thames.<\/p>\n However, Independent councillor Ewan Larcombe (Datchet, Horton, & Wraysbury) said the watercourse is not fully functioning as parts of it at the station and at Feathers Lane have remained clogged for nearly three years despite raising the issue to the council and receiving promises it will be fixed.<\/p>\n Parts of the drain fall under private landowners\u2019 boundaries, meaning they are the ones responsible for repairing and maintaining their part of the watercourse.<\/p>\n Cllr Larcombe said the Royal Borough Council has invested \u00a3150,000 over the years on the Wraysbury Drain but believes it would be more \u201ccost-effective\u201d to take enforcement action against the riparian owners, forcing them to clear their part of the drain.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe borough does not like confrontation like that because it costs them money, but I would far rather they spent the money taking on the landowner than going in there and clearing it up at our expense.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Wraysbury Drain could be cleared after being left clogged for two years<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Councillor David Cannon (Con: Datchet, Horton, & Wraysbury), cabinet member for public protection, said: \u201cWe are liaising with property owners and want to work with them to resolve this complex issue as soon as practically possible. The council has contacted a number of properties asking owners to clear blockages in sections of the Wraysbury Drain they are responsible for in their capacity as riparian landowners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always seek to work with landowners in the first instance and to give them reasonable opportunity and support to undertake works. However, one option available to us as a last resort is formal enforcement action where riparian owners are obliged to undertake the necessary work to remove any blockages.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some sections there has been unauthorised backfilling of the channel which has reduced the proper flow of water within the watercourse.<\/p>\n \u201cFurther on site investigations and works to improve the flow of the drain are due to be carried out in due course, although this will not be able to fully resolve the problem which would require the full support of the riparian landowners.\u201d<\/p>\n But patience is wearing thin from Cllr Larcombe, who said Cllr Cannon is a \u201clong list of excuses\u201d. He said: \u201cIt\u2019s really very simple. Clean out the channel.\u201d<\/p>\n Cllr Cannon declined to comment further.<\/p>\n END<\/p>\n Link to source https:\/\/www.windsorobserver.co.uk\/news\/19853901.wraysbury-drain-still-blocked-three-years\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 17th January 2022 Wraysbury Drain STILL blocked after three years By\u00a0James Bagley\u00a0\u00a0BagleyLDRLocal Democracy Reporter A clogged part of the Wraysbury Drain by Feathers Lane, Wraysbury. Picture by Ewan Larcombe – taken on Jan 9, 2022 A FED-UP councillor has unleashed his fury as parts of an\u00a0important watercourse\u00a0remain clogged up despite promises this would be …. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/flooding.london\/rts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Feathers-Lane-9-1-2022-3-scaled.jpg\")
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