Knaresborough resident calls for action on blocked gullies after weekend rainReaders’ Letters: An ambulance had to wait at Starbeck level crossing – can’t the trains be held up?Knaresborough councillors stand by ‘blocked gullies’ claimReaders’ Letters: Harrogate’s streets are laden with litter and cigarette buttsNew software improving local gully maintenance, says council

North Yorkshire Council says a new software has helped to improve maintenance of the county’s gullies.

A council report, which was written by Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at North Yorkshire Council, will be presented to the transport, economy, environment and enterprise overview and scrutiny committee next Wednesday.

It says maintenance has reportedly improved since the roll-out of a pilot scheme using software from a company called Kaarbontech in 2021.

The Stray Ferret is often flooded with messages expressing concern about the infrastructure of local gullies. These only increased during the sodden winter.

But the council has said the new software helps to determine the number of gullies that need to be attended each year and where they are located based on the previous year’s figures.

Mr Smith said:

“The analysis of this data ensures that the gully crews only need to attend gullies that require attention, therefore saving time and costs associated with gully maintenance.”

The report says the previous system was “much less reliable”, adding when some locations were attended the crews would find the gully was “silt-free and water in the pipework running freely”.

But, since using the software, it adds the attendance-to-gullies figure increased to 85% in 2022 and 2023, which was a 10% increase from the year prior.

The report also says of those gullies attended in the same period, a total of 93.2% of gullies needed cleaning, which suggests the “data-led programme was working”. It adds:

“Our surveys show that there are 164,171 gullies on the highway network.

“Data collected and sense-checked indicates that as of March 11, 2024, the total number of gullies attended was 92,554 based on information to the end of the previous week. This represents 87.11% of the programme, meaning the 2022/23 figure (85%) has already been exceeded.”

Mr Smith also notes the data collected was taken “against a backdrop of ten named storms during the winter season”, adding more than 10,000 gullies were attended in addition to those included in the Kaarbontech programme.

The report forecasts the attendance figure to increase to 93% by the end of this year.

Read more:

Rain highlights concerns about state of Harrogate district drains and gullies

Heavy rain in recent days has heightened concerns about the state of drains and gullies in the Harrogate district.

The Stray Ferret has been contacted by residents in separate parts of the district frustrated about how quickly flooding occurs because of blockages in the drainage infrastructure.

Huby resident John Chadwick said flooding caused by blocked culverts, drains and ditches was a major problem in Huby and Weeton and concerns raised by the parish council had brought “minimal results”. He said:

“There is a particularly serious issue at the moment at the junction of Woodgate Lane, Crag Lane and the main A658.

“When there is even little rainfall, water cascades off the fields on the north side of the A658. Because the ditches are blocked, water flows down over the main road and then down onto Woodgate Lane. Recently this froze over causing a risk to life. This is not an exaggeration, a vehicle could easily have skidded.

“I walk my dog regularly in the area and even as a complete novice in the subject, I can see that the problem would be easy to solve by clearing ditches, gulleys and drains.”

A drain in Huby

Mr Chadwick urged North Yorkshire County Council, the highways authority, to do more to tackle the problem, particularly as a school bus stop is located at the junction.

Read more:

Sharow resident James Thornborough sent photos of Sharow Lane, which he said flooded within an hour of heavy rain on Saturday.

“The blind bend road was flooded where the sewage operation is running 24/7. It took just one hour of torrential rain to achieve the pictured lake. The electric power packs for the traffic lights were submerged in water.

“Yorkshire Water jetted the drains about six weeks ago, which is not a sustainable solution because every other drain on Dishforth Road is blocked, offering a downhill runway.

Sharow Lane last weekend

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:

“Funding for the upkeep of drains and gullies is part of our annual highways maintenance budget of around £55 million which covers planned maintenance programmes as well as responding to problems as they arise.

“Over the last financial year we invested an additional £500,000 to improve how we maintain road drainage systems across the county.

“We have in-house high-pressure jetting capability on our gully cleansing machines which assist in unblocking drainage systems and ensuring they are operating effectively.”