Storm gully blocked causing flooding

mikeb222

I have a drain right outside my side gate. According to severn trent it's a storm gully and they can't unblock it. They say it's a council issue but council say as a private owner it's my responsibility to get it unblocked myself.
Are they right

Also, it's a bout 3 inches square and the hole is at 90 degrees to the drain.
It can't be rodded as nearest drain 30odd foot away
How would I unblock this myself as I don't really want to pay private firm £150

JohnB47

Sorry but I can't make head nor tail of your description. It's about 3 inches square? -tiny.

How about a picture. Also, is it inside or outside of your property boundary? Or perhaps that's in dispute?

mikeb222

Sorry, don't know why I put 3, should be 8 inches square.

Try to put photo up but not very good at that

pimento

Like this one?

PasturesNew

I am guessing, but: is this a drain in your garden? You need to read the paperwork from when you bought the house - in the searches, the water one, which will show you where the public sewers run .... then see if you've any paperwork for where the private sewers run. See where that drain goes and who/if it's shared with anybody (neighbours).

Some are private sewers, with several properties sharing the private sewer to reach the public one... it's all in the house buying details (that stuff that you intend to read, but then it's all so much guff you don't). With mine it talks of private sewers being privately paid for to clear .... so the next stage is "so who pays? who decides?"

mikeb222

pimento wrote: »

Like this one?

No, much smaller.
Right outside my back gate in the corner.
Looks like a storm drain fro the car park area.
When it lasted belted down, the whole area flooded

DaftyDuck

So, is it located on Council property, or on privately - owned property? What kind of car park area? Shared, your own, private, Sainsburys, Council?

To unblock it yourself, which saves faffing around who owns responsibility... take off the grill, if there is one. Pull out as much debris as you can. Get you hand right in there and scop the muck out into a bucket. Get a hose, turn it on and ram it down the hole. There'll be a U-bend of sorts. Point the hose up the 'ole, and shove. Get any and all the muck you can out, and keep going. At some point if you are lucky, there'll be a sound like an elephant regretting a recent Vindaloo, the water will eddy, and suddenly all will flow down to the NetherWorld. Keep flushing that hose until you are sure there's nothing left.

Replace grill if there is one. Buy grill, then replace, if there is not.

Shower. Wash clothes. Shower again. Then beer.

nickcc

All our surface water on our property goes into our own soakaways, during heavy rain it's usual for the older ones to back up as they are unable to handle the increased volume of water, could your drain feed into a soakaway ? We also only pay the Water supply company for sewerage disposal and not surface water and this is indicated on our water bill, I'd check to see if this is the case if your unsure.