FOLLOWING weeks of road flooding, confused residents of Bannawell Street in Tavistock are relieved that drainage repairs have finally started.

Flooding began on Bannawell Street in early January. After a period of bad weather and nearly two months on and residents hope that drainage repairs, which started on Monday, will solve the problems caused by the Victorian drainage system.

Shortly after the start of the flooding on January 11, Devon County Council engineers began working to address the surface water flooding in Bannawell Street. Engineers undertook a full CCTV inspection to establish the blockage problem and installed a pump to divert water back into drains to resolve the surface water.

During the inspection engineers warned that if the blockage, which was 3.5 metres beneath ground, was unable to be cleared or if the issue was a collapsed drain, more extensive engineering works would be required and could take several weeks to conclude.

Work has now begun to temporarily fix the drainage issue and resurface the road.

On the Tavistock Parish Facebook page Mike Bray said: ‘We are currently locating services, depending on what we find we will be able to start excavation works when we have completed this. Works should then start moving along. I would estimate that it will take up to two weeks along with the resurfacing works that will have to be done. It isn’t a straightforward excavation as we are having to use trench shuttering to ensure safety of the operatives.’

Bannawell Street resident Mia Holman told the Times: ‘The roadworks haven’t really affected me because I am further down the road – I am quite glad to see something being done about it and the road has been nice and quiet without the cars rallying down the road as a shortcut. For me it is the water that has been a problem – it stops and starts and it’s hard to predict when the road will flood again.

‘The water is penetrating the footpath and going under the floor and into our basement – our basement is completely flooded! When cars were coming down the road the water would spray everywhere.

‘A little while ago the water was 6 inches deep so we had to go out the back door and when you are doing the school run that is not ideal!

‘No one has any idea how long it’s going to take! I have written to a local councillor and she tried to help us but there was nothing she could do. Local Cllr Jeff Moody also lives on the street and he has been really helpful and knows what is going on.

‘I just think it would be great if someone typed up a synopsis about what has happened and what is going to be done next and delivered that to the 100 houses along the street but we haven’t heard anything from anyone.

‘We are all working and are all busy with families so we don’t have time to be phoning different people to try and find out what is going on.

‘We knew that Bannawell Street and roads nearby are used for parking by lots of people who work in the town but since the road has been closed, it has been really easy to get about near here and park nearby.’

Mia added: ‘Someone put the road closure signs out, I think it was highways officers but some idiots were ignoring the signs because they only covered half of the road and were driving on the pavement down the road!

‘I was walking to my car to go to work one day and a car came hurtling past me and soaked me because it was driving on the pavement. When he had reached the bottom of the road the sign had blown over. I phoned 101 because I thought someone is going to be knocked over in a minute – especially because there are lots of elderly people and young children on the street. I was on hold for 25 minutes and then they put me through to the local police – I also phoned the council and asked what they could do to help us.

‘I just think they should have put up better signage that was the whole way across the road and wasn’t going to get blown over in the wind. I think if someone had just written a letter to everyone on the street they could have saved themselves a lot of money because they have had to answer everyone’s phone calls. At one point when the water was all the way across the road, my daughter who is four was walking along the road in her wellies and the water went up over her boots.’

West Devon Borough Council and Tavistock Town Cllr Jeff Moody is also a resident of Bannawell Street. He said the flooding was a serious issue because it had affected so many residents.

He said: ‘I understand from Devon County Council that relief drain and road repair is expected to be completed towards the end of the week to get the road open for traffic.

‘The poor old Highways workers have got to do the work but what is difficult is knowing how long it will take until the roads are back to normal – they won’t know what is going on until they dig up the road and expose the drains.

‘Residents really have to grin and bear it at the moment but hopefully Highways can dig a temporary bypass. They did say they were planning to repair and temporarily divert the waters to allow traffic to get by. I understand some residents are bothered by the noise and the road closure but the pump is the quietest they could find – when you are right next to it you can hear it but the work has to be done. I don’t know how long it will be until it’s all resolved.

‘Residents really do just have to bear with it unfortunately but we will get through it and hopefully this will sort some of the ongoing drainage issues Russell Court have been experiencing too – we just need to stay positive really.’