Schoolchildren biggest victims of “constant” flooding of main Cley route

Parts of one of north Norfolk's most beautiful villages are becoming submerged in sludge and water, to the despair of local residents.

Homeowners in Cley have been raising their concerns with flooding of one of the town's main roads for years, with especial concern raised for school children who are continually drenched by floodwater as they wait for their bus.

The Holt road is described by locals as 'falling apart', due to constantly being under water.

Parish councillor Richard Allen explained: 'It's a problem with the drains- the Highways Agency doesn't clean them out enough and when they do, the problem is much wider as it doesn't go deep enough to get rid of all the sludge.'

Large potholes have appeared in the middle of the road as a result of the flooding.

Mr Allen continued: 'It's deep water. It's not so deep that it'd come over the top of your wellies, but enough that cars need to really slow down.'

Richard Waugh's 11-year-old son William takes the bus to Alderman Peel High School from the Holt Road stop.

Mr Waugh explained: 'There's one car that used to speed up as they approached the stop to deliberately soak them. My son William stands there with two other girls that also get on the bus from there.'

Mr Waugh's son now has to film the car in question in an attempt to scare the driver into slowing down.

Mr Waugh, who lives on Lime Kiln Close, added: 'I'm the only one that can drive and I get ill quite a lot, so if I can't drive him down the road he has no other option than to wade through three inches of water and mud.

'I've said to him if it's too bad he'll just have to come home and I'll have to ring the school.'

A Norfolk County Council spokesperson said: 'We recently carried out localised clearance work to allow water to drain away from an area on Holt Road opposite Lime Kiln Cottage so, as far as we are aware, this situation has been resolved. The ditch that the drain feeds into does still require attention to further help with drainage in this area, but this is the responsibility of the land owner, who we have made aware.

'Regarding flooding at the Holt Road/ Glandford Road junction, on 7 February we instructed the contractor to carry out the drainage work and they have 28 days to complete it, subject to adverse weather conditions.'