A LONGSTANDING flooding problem reared its head again today (Sunday, 5 July) in Stanford-le-Hope prompting a ward councillor to say the authority has to find a long term solution to a recurring problem.

The flooding happened under the rail bridge towards the end of Wharf Road in Stanford-le-Hope and - as well as cutting off a number of businesses on the Stanhope Industrial Park, left a number of residents unable to get to and from their homes with vehicles.

The problem has been a long term irritant for those residents and Stanford West ward councillor Terry Piccolo, also the borough's Mayor, says today's problem was something that he and fellow ward councillor SHane Hebb had been trying to resolve prior to the latest inconvenience.

This evening he said: "We called this into the out-of-hours team earlier this morning, and Shane and I have been attending throughout the day.

Options to improve underpass

"We are grateful to those who spent the day fixing the issue and cleaning the water and we are also appreciative of the residents and road users patients who have were not able to get through the road.

"We met with officers just last week to discuss long term solutions for the issue, who are looking into possible options to improve the issues at the underpass."

The council, which has responsibility for the road's maintenance, also issued a statement and council leader Ron Gledhill also got involved.

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The statement says: "This morning, Sunday 5 July, a flood under the railway bridge on Wharf Road, Stanford-le-Hope was reported to Thurrock Council which resulted in the road being shut until approximately 5pm.

The flooding was a result of a mechanical failure of the water pumps following a power cut yesterday afternoon. Due to the constant flow of water which built up and caused the flooding on the road, the pumps could not be accessed by specialist contractors to fix until the road was cleared.

Cllr Gledhill, said: "I would like to thank all residents for their patience while this section of Wharf Road has had no through access today.

"I would also like to thank all council officers who are working this weekend, especially the Highways Team, along with the help provided to them by officers from Essex Fire, for their hard work investigating, draining and clearing the flooding to be able to re-open the road this afternoon and allow the contractors to have access to the pumps which are now fixed."