A RESIDENT’S patience is wearing thin after he has suffered flooding outside his home for almost 20 years.

Ian Foster has lived in Sussex Road, Colchester, since 2001, and flooding has always been an issue.

About ten years ago Essex County Council came out to lower the pavement so water would run off into gullies, but it did not work.

Mr Foster described the situation as an “absolute farce”. He said: “The road is never swept so the drains get blocked up.

“It’s not something we can just clear out ourselves.

“It’s totally unacceptable and it’s crazy how this has just gone on and on.

“It floods up to four times a year and it often comes into our front garden.

“The road goes downhill towards our property and then uphill towards Hilly Fields. It’s lined with trees and the leaves block the gutters.”

At its worst, the flooding can be up to a foot deep.

It has caused damage to the garden in the past.

Mr Foster said: “It’s because the roads are never swept and when the rubbish builds up it floods.

“I have contacted the councils about it dozens of times.

“The problem is not so much the drains, the problem is the trees and the leaves that come off them.”

Colchester Council is aware of the situation as is Essex County Council.

An Essex Highways spokesperson said the likely cause of the problem results from “a failure of the channel from the dropped kerb put in in 2009”.

He said: “This was to take surface water off the road and into the Hilly Fields nature reserve area near number 33.

“It may well be that the channel into the reserve has silted up and become ineffective, which might need Colchester Council to come and re-dig it.

“We would encourage residents affected to contact their local councillor in the first instance and raise this concern.

“The whole area is low-lying and classified by the Environment Agency as liable to surface water, so heavy or prolonged rainfall may take time to clear in any case.”