Big gully cleaning programme begins in Telford and Wrekin
Telford & Wrekin Council’s new highways contractor Balfour Beatty has begun a 12-month programme to clean every gully in the borough.
Road drainages systems, or gullies, drain water from the surface of roads to reduce the risk of flooding, protect road users and prevent structural damage to roads.
There are thought to be in excess of 33,000 gullies in Telford and Wrekin and all of them will be cleaned by April next year.
To get the job done, crews will need to clean around 128 gullies a day. Two crews will be working on this full time, with one crew working days and the other nights. Both crews will work weekends when needed.
As each gully is cleaned, crews will digitally map each one with a record of silt levels so that they can identify drains prone to filling up more quickly. By the end of 12 months, the council will have a full record of all the drains and gullies in the borough so that an intelligence-based cleaning programme can be implemented. Drains and areas prone to flooding will be cleaned more frequently.
Dom Proud, Telford & Wrekin Council’s service delivery manager for highways, transport and engineering services, said: “To find and clean all of the 33,000+ gullies in 12 months is a huge undertaking. To put this in context, it used to take our previous contractor two and a half years to do.
“The really key thing here though is the digital mapping of all the gullies and drains. This will make such a difference going forward, as we will know which drains need to be cleaned out more often.”
Gully cleaning crews are working in Halesfield, Madeley and Sutton Hill this week. As well as the planned programme of work, crews will be undertaking responsive repairs as needed.
