MADAM As things stand the Herefordshire Council will have done next to nothing to address the immediate causes of the flooding of seven years ago in the lower town. Though Hereford has been aware that the culvert behind me Safeway supermarket was too small since South Hereford's scheme was handed over to it in 1997, and could have done something to avoid the result, this item has been secretly omitted from the current scheme since about 2004 — presumably because DEFRA is not willing to pay for Hereford's shortcomings. It is still possible for this culvert, together with the supermarket and Wye Valley Engineering, to be overwhelmed by rainfall on and behind me town. The cost of fixing it is negligible; and it would be a lot cheaper to do it now than later. Most of the flooding in Brookend Street — which is now happening two or three times a year — results from the inadequacy of Hereford's highway gullies (mostly the 'enhanced' ones up Broad Street) and has done for a century. But first we must have sewers able to cope with the water which is supposed to be going down them.
Keith Horne Gorsley