Local MP Steve Brine dropped into Hursley on Saturday afternon (15 February 2014) as the village continues to battle serious issues caused by recent ground-water flooding.
Joined by City Councillors, Jan Warwick and Mike Southgate - and Parish Chairman, Eleanor Bell - the MP visited several homes and talked with a number of local residents.
The group dropped into the home of Phil Bryant who lives on the Main Road in Hursley and has his basement kitchen flooded; a series of pumps are working day and night to remove the water.
They also visited Southern Water's pumping station on Main Road which was being extracted at the time. They met with resident Jonathan Greatrix who explained how the previous day had seen raw sewage in the street before a surface pump installed by Southern Water had begun pumping material out of the sewage drain to release the pressure.
Steve Brine said; "So many areas of my constituency have been badly affected but when it comes to raw sewage running around your feet it's deadly serious. Southern Water have responded but we are all concerned the response is not adequate enough and I have a lot of follow-up to do on behalf of constituents to ensure we stay on top of the situation."
As with so many other areas, lessons will need to be learned and fed into a parish emergency plan. I will be working with local city, parish and county councillors - as well as residents of course - to get that in place.
After leaving Hursley, Steve joined Cllr Mike Southgate in Poles Lane, Otterbourne to inspect the gulleys and see where much of Hursley's drain water ends up passing through.
Pictured; Steve on the ground in Hursley (top); and Cllr Mike Southgate in Otterbourne.
More information ...
Find Hursley Parish Council online
Visit the Otterbourne Parish Council website
Contact Cllr Jan Warwick AND Cllr Mike Southgate
