Flooding ‘unlikely’ on Otley to Pool-in-Wharfedale road after engineers complete works (From Wharfedale Observer)

Flooding ‘unlikely’ on Otley to Pool-in-Wharfedale road after engineers complete works

5:00pm Sunday 3rd March 2013 in Local news By Jim Jack

Highways engineers say further major flooding on a frequently blocked stretch of road between Otley and Pool-in-Wharfedale is “unlikely”.

A section of the A659 Pool Road, near Weidmann Whiteley Paper Mill, was unpassable to traffic on two occasions last November and December.

In both incidents road debris and run-off soil from a nearby field were blamed for blocking the road drains, leading to several feet of water building up across the highway.

Councillors Barry Anderson (Con, Adel & Wharfedale) and Sandy Lay (Lib Dem, Otley & Yeadon) called a meeting with Leeds City Council officers to discuss how the problem could be prevented from recurring.

They have been told that, while further investigation is needed, some short-term measures that have been taken should make it “unlikely the area will flood to any degree in the future”.

Those have included: l changing to larger sized grate coverings to stop debris blocking the drains l adding a relief drain at the lowest point of the road l repairing a fault on one of the drains.

Highways officers still want, however, to explore the area further to find out how much water is running into the drainage system, including field drainage, and where the gullies are connected to see if more work is needed. That is not expected to happen for about six weeks, and will require traffic lights to be installed on the road while investigations take place.

Coun Anderson, meanwhile, told the meeting he was concerned at the impact the amount of "intensive development" planned for the Otley, Pool and surrounding areas could have on flooding. He has asked for a city-wide policy to be developed to spell out what more developers could do to lessen the problem.

The meeting also heard that a Wharfedale group could be set up that would see local emergency services, health centres, schools, parish councils and businesses kept up to date on flooding via text messages, which they could then forward on to the wider community.