A PARISH council has hit out at the highways department at Central Bedfordshire Council for not keeping up with maintenance work and taking too long in responding to problems affecting the village.

A PARISH council has hit out at the highways department at Central Bedfordshire Council for not keeping up with maintenance work and taking too long in responding to problems affecting the village.

Items of concern are the foul sewers in Bedford Road, Henlow Camp, and the High Street, which have flooded in the past every time there has been prolonged rainfall.

Bert Schrier, clerk to Henlow Parish Council said: “While Anglian Water does respond and clears sewage from people’s gardens after the event, we do not think that preventative measures are being taken to ensure these are maintained and kept clear on a regular basis to ensure these do not overflow again in the future.”

Mr Schrier said he reports maintenance problems as soon as they are bought to his attention. He regulaly does a walk-about with CBC’s highways engineer to highlight concerns in the village.

He said while five items highlighted at the end of March were attended to in June, there are still eight items reported last September outstanding.

Some of the items reported to CBC in September 2011 which have not been completed are gullies blocked in Church Road and High Street. Gully in Park Lane is slow running, pothole forming in High Street, High Street verges not seeded properly, Arlesey Road, Dove House Drive junction the white lining is non-existant.

He added: “Highways did respond quickly after having been criticised in the press on the July 20 by sweeping the channels and weed-kill spraying them on July 24 and 25, something we had been asking them to do for months.

“CBC has stated that all road gullies have been cleared, yet there are still a number in the High Street and Church Road that flood when it rains.”

Cllr Brian Spurr, executive member for sustainable communities services, said: “We have carried out some jetting recently to clear the weeds in the gullies that were reported to us.

“I’d like to reassure the Parish Council that we will be in touch shortly to arrange a meeting to discuss any outstanding issues and set out a work plan for how to deal with them.”