Blocked and broken drains around the city pose a flood risk and 'danger' to motorists

A prolific ‘litter warrior’ claims hundreds of blocked drains around Peterborough are causing a flood and road safety risk – and is urging the city council and Highways to do more.

Mark Fishpool began his mission to tidy up the city’s A47 parkways three years ago, occasionally supported by other volunteers.

In the first four months of this year alone, Mark and his team have cleared a whopping 25 miles of roadway – with the aim of improving the appearance of Peterborough for all who visit or pass through.

But he said the number of blocked drains he now encounters is a growing concern – and he has set up a Facebook group on the matter entitled ‘Peterborough City of Blocked Drains’.

"Since January, I’ve come across hundreds of them,” he said, “Not just along the parkways – but in residential streets too. They are full of soil and debris. Heavy downpours we’ve had have also caused flooding around blocked drains, particularly on the roads that go underneath the A47 – with sections all flooded and cars having to navigate the water.

“It’s a huge issue around Peterborough – and I’m forever reporting them to the council.”

When he’s out litter-picking, Mark photographs any blocked drains he comes across, or those with damaged or missing rain covers, and reports them via the ‘FixMyStreet’ app.

“One of the biggest issues is the drains missing their rain covers,” he said. “With no cover on, it leaves a hole which car wheels could go into – and makes it dangerous.

“It’s just a lack of maintenance where the drains are concerned – but it’s not just Peterborough. This seems to be an issue all over the country – it’s an epidemic of blocked drains.”

Mark and his supporters cleared litter from 25-miles of road system from January to April this year, after which he took a break from the task. However, by August, he said the rubbish and debris had already built back up – “undoing all the good work”. So this month he has been back out scouring the area for rubbish.

“Over the last few weeks we have achieved so much and the parkways are already looking much cleaner again,” he said. “Thankfully it was much easier task this time as we weren’t dealing with litter that had been around for 10 to 15 years like last time. That was a truly mammoth task when we started it.”

Peterborough City Council has previously advised for people not to litter-pick along the A47 parkways due to safety concerns.

Regarding Mark’s concerns about the drains, a PCC spokesperson said: “We are continuing to respond to reports of blocked/damaged drains on FixMyStreet. At present we’ve had no reports we would class as critical or life/property threatening and have not needed to deploy flood boards on any of our roads during the recent wet weather.

“Reports received will be inspected and prioritised based on the need for works and we would urge residents to report any blocked or damaged drains to FixMyStreet.”

They added: “We would point out that the drainage for the A47 and all associated slip roads and trunk roads are all managed by National Highways and so should be reported to: [email protected].”