Banburyshire home is plagued by flooding - county council agrees it needs to be fixed as soon as possible

David and Trina Murray-Hundley of Clifton say they have been batted to and fro between Thames Water and Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) but neither has done anything about it.

In times of heavy rain, water collecting beneath the pavement at their gate becomes a geyser as pictures in this article show.

In January, Thames Water engineers put video equipment down beneath the surface to ascertain the problem but refused to discuss their findings with Mr and Mrs Murray-Hundley.

They were told that, as the land was not Thames Water’s, they could not give any information and also, as a company, Thames Water did not have to give information under the Freedom of Information Act. The water company said it was Oxfordshire County Council’s problem.

"This has been going on since the former parish council chair put in a Fix My Street request in 2016. Then in 2021, Thames Water did some work in the street and since then it’s been a terrible problem,” said Mr Murray-Hundley.

"It is an ongoing issue with water which is pushing up the pavement and road. It has been reported repeatedly on Fix My Street and has got considerably worse,” said Mr Murray-Hundley. “It’s now damaging our house.

“It has damaged bits of pavement by water coming through in several areas. There are holes in the county council-owned grass verge outside our house. Water is pouring through them. We are getting flooding in our garden and the pavement is now erupting at the end of our driveway. If something is not done soon I am going to have to foot the cost and drag them into a county court.”

The Banbury Guardian asked Thames Water and Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) what could be done.

A spokesman for OCC said: “The problem appears to be due to a broken culvert. Investigations are still taking place and we are working with Thames Water to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “On January 5, our contractors responded to reports of surface-water flooding on Main Road in Clifton. They carried out investigations to check for collapsed sewers, which included taking pictures. The team confirmed there were no issues on the sewerage system and our clean water repair team visited the next day to carry out further investigations.

“Our engineers also confirmed that there were no broken water pipes on our network and advised that Oxfordshire County Council were responsible for the section of drains and pipes causing the flooding.”

The spokesman said: “Heavy rain can sometimes cause surface-water flooding. Normally excess rainwater is diverted into roadside gullies, which feed into our sewers. If the gullies or sewers become blocked, water can back-up and flood a road. The local authority is responsible for drains in the road and the pipes connecting them to our sewer.”