ANGRY residents and councillors called into question work being carried out to stop further flooding.

Since the floods in July, Essex County Council says it has cleared 4,000 gullies in Castle Point and cleaned all the drains.

It usually cleans them once a year or twice a year in flood prone areas.

But councillors said they wanted to know exactly where the work had been carried out because they believed areas had been missed.

Councillor David Cross said: “Has anybody seen the gullies being cleared?

“Someone needs a kick up the bottom. No one has seen it. No one has seen anything. This catastrophe could happen tonight and we are in trouble.”

Councillor Barry Campagna walked the length of May Avenue dyke and handed over pictures he had taken which he claimed showed it had not been cleaned.

He said: “Residents and councillors often go and clean the dyke.

“It is quite obvious after the flood that no maintenance has been done on this for a long time.

“There were overgrown weeds, sludge and algae.

“This dyke has not been cleaned for years. What is the point in cleaning the drains if the water can’t go down the dyke?”

Other councillors claimed other areas had not been cleaned, or had been illegally filled in.

The council heard there were 5,000 gullies and there used to be one person employed to continually clean them.

Committee chairman Dave Blackwell added: “There is no way the county council has done 4,000 gullies that quickly. Is it doing it properly?”

Resident Carole Abbott, 68, of Herbert Road, Canvey, backed councillors’ calls for the May Avenue dyke.

She said: “It is a mess really, and once it is a mess people use it as a tip.

“They used to come along and scoop it out intoawheelbarrow to move it, but they haven’t done that this year.

“They came down at the beginning of the year and they did cut it back, but definitely since the flooding they haven’t been down there at all.”