Gully cleansing in Northamptonshire becomes a casualty of social distancing

The gully cleansing machine will now only go out as an emergency.

Gully cleansing in Northamptonshire is now only being done if it is an emergency.

The county’s roads have become a casualty of the coronavirus effort as the county council, which has responsibility for highways maintenance of 148,718 gullies across Northamptonshire, has decided to scale back the usual service.

Cabinet member for highways Cllr Jason Smithers says that social distancing rules mean that the two people needed to operate the machinery could not have done so without being put at risk.

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A statement on the council’s website says: “Northamptonshire Highways have reviewed the gully cleansing service in light of the current coronavirus situation.

“Due to a reduction in staffing levels and Government guidance we are currently running an emergency/reactive service in Northamptonshire. We are working with our crews to ensure they are complaint with social distancing. This includes changes to vehicle usage and welfare.”

A lot of other local highways authorities have also suspended their regular cleanings during the coronavirus emergency. Typically gully cleansing goes on throughout the day and night and includes an annual maintenance programme to make sure the rain water can run off the roads and into the sewer system. Blocked drains can cause waterlogged roads and lead to safety issues.

Cllr Smithers said there would be a slight backlog when the system returned to normal ‘but we have faced bigger challenges and we will rise to it’.

Over recent years gully cleansing in Northamptonshire has not been carried out as it should have been. An email from a senior county council officer to a resident in October last year revealed that only a quarter of the county’s gullies had been cleaned in the 2018/19 financial year when the plan and set aside resources had been for a full clean of all 148,718 gullies.

A report by the council’s scrutiny committee published in January this year highlighted significant concerns with how the authority has monitored the long standing £50m annual contract with KierWSP over the past few years.