The AA write about Watery Lane on their own blog here.
We are urging drivers to heed road closure signs on a flooded road in Hullbridge, Essex, called… Watery Lane.
In the last six days, we have attended 14 cars, including two this morning, that have come to grief after ignoring the warning signs.
Local AA patrol and flood rescue team member Allen Childs says: “The clue’s in the name, Watery Lane. It’s closed for safety reasons but unfortunately some drivers think they know better and have got stuck, even though they see other cars in trouble.
“The road is a popular short cut and some have admitted they were just blindly following their sat-nav….”
Meanwhile, the County Council website has the following on its ‘view a problem’ page:
Watery Lane is shown to have a ‘drainage problem’ (that’s true!!!!) and the response is “No Further Action” !
The text below explains that “No Further Action” can mean an amazingly different number of things:
No further action
This has been assessed as requiring no further action at this time. Reasons can include:
We have assessed the reported problem and it does not currently meet our minimum assessment criteria for action. We routinely inspect all routes and this issue will be monitored as part of these inspections.
The area of concern is the responsibility of another organisation, local council, or land owner. We will contact them and ask that they report directly to you, if you have provided us with contact details.
On visiting the site, the Highways Inspector has removed the hazard or the hazard had already been removed before the site was visited, so no problem was found or identified.
We have previously been made aware of the problem and are already preparing to take the necessary action as part of a large maintenance scheme.
A routine inspection is due shortly and any problems present will be identified at that time.
We just hope that what they mean is that there is going to be ‘a large maintenance scheme’.
Ron Oatham
Trevor Parrett
Bruce Smart
Chris Stanley
Pam Waldie
Elena Black
Rochford District Council carries out grass cutting on behalf of the County Council.
If you see a grass verge that badly needs cutting, you can report it
This is the official master document for planning policy in our district! To download it, click here
