Highways improvements to help tackle flooding on part of Tixall Road in Stafford will start next week.

Highways crews from Staffordshire County Council will be carrying out the investigative work on drains and gullies on the road between Stafford and Great Haywood.  Crews will also be jet washing and clearing gullies as necessary with the work expected to take around three days to complete.

David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said: “Staffordshire is a big county with a road network covering several thousand miles and in recent years pressure on public finances has seen a reduction in what we can spend on maintenance and upkeep.  We do all we can with the money available, but we have to prioritise what we do and when.

“We are aware of the flooding on Tixall road which is caused by water running off the adjacent fields. There are pipes from the road into a nearby watercourse, however,  our crews feel the pipes may have been damaged by landfill over the years by a local landowner. As the problem is on private land, we need to identify and work with the landowner to be able to find a permanent solution.”

Mr Williams added: “This year the county council is investing an additional £2 million on highways maintenance, on top of the £5 million already allocated, to target some of the highways issues we know residents care about. The funding is being used for things like additional extra cleaning of gullies and drains, tackling problem ditches which cause flooding, extra grass cuts and weeding control.”