Highway Drainage

 

A report by the Head of Technical Services - Kent Highway Services.

The attached document provides the Board with an overview of the Drainage Team, the Officers involved and briefly describes the various drainage systems maintained by the Team.

 

           

 

Routine, emergency and planned works

1.    The present scheduled gulley cleansing lists have recently been optimised, and are awaiting issue to the Cabinet for approval by members before being issued to Parishes, Members and JTB's on a rolling monthly basis. They will indicate parishes to be done within the next 1 or 2 months and will be adjusted according to output. We are at present also collecting asset data.

2.    Emergencies during the day are dealt with by the HUB (Priority response officers) and drainage staff. The emergency callout officers deal with them during the night and at weekends.

3.    Longer term drainage defects are collected via CSM enquiries, gulley cleansing and observations from KCC staff, and are investigated via jetting and CCTV surveys to determine remedial works. These are then allocated a priority between 1 (highest) and 5 (lowest) depending on the effect on safety, property damage and nuisance. We carry out approximately 2,500 remedial works each year to cure flooding problems, and in the last 2 years has resulted in callouts being halved.

 

 

 

 

 

Accountable Officer:                          Marie Lambkin 08458 247 800

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drainage

 

The Kent Highways Drainage team are responsible for the rain water drainage from our Highways.  We maintain the drainage assets that are located under the road surface.

 

 

 

 

Who’s who

 

Drainage Manager                           

Peter Bridgman                                  

 

Drainage Team Leader

Ken Rawson

 

Drainage Engineer’s

The role of the Drainage Engineer is to deal with any issues of maintenance other than routine cleansing.  E.g. If there are problems with damage to the system, it is their responsibility to design and action the right solution.

 

Andrew Young - Major Schemes, Tunbridge Wells

John Swanborough - Thanet, Dover, Shepway

Kevin Gore - Ashford, Canterbury, Swale

Alison Lewis – Sevenoaks, Dartford

Jamie Finch - Gravesend, Maidstone

Sara Fletcher - Tonbridge and Malling

 

Drainage Parish Connection Officer

Marie Lambkin - Whole of Kent.  Marie is the first point of contact between the Drainage team and all County Members, Councilors, Borough and Parish Councils in Kent.  She also assists with Technical Support in the absence of other team members. 

 

 

Technical Support Officers

The TSO’s are the first point of contact between the drainage team and the general public.  They respond to customer enquiries and raise orders for reactive cleansing works.  The role of the TSO is also to assist the Engineers wherever possible.

 

Emma Philpott - West Kent - Dartford, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells

Sophie Ruffer - East Kent - Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Shepway, Swale, Thanet.

 

Admin

Jodi Harrison – Jodi keeps all our records up-to-date and issues initial investigational works to the crews.

 

Ringway Staff

Toni Roberts – Assistant Drainage Manager

Liz Dracup- Works Programmer

Tamsin Reade- Admin

Alexis Hastings-Thorpe – Admin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drainage

 

Areas Maintained

 

 

Road side gully pots

 

These are visible from the road surface by means of an iron grate and their function is to take any rain water that lands on the highway down and away from the road.  Silt and debris collect at the bottom of the gully pot to prevent the rest of the system getting blocked up, while the water drains out through the outlet.  The Drainage team are responsible for maintaining the gully pot which is the section under the ground but not for the metal grid.

 

 

Gully

 

 

 

Beany Blocks

 

Beany blocks are kerb edges that have drainage holes in them to take rain water away from the road.  The holes are all joined together by a channel under the surface which then drains into the main drainage system.

 

 

Aco Channels

 

Often found in footpaths or subways, these are shallow channels which collect and direct rain water away and into the under road drainage system.

 

 

 

 

Soakaways

 

Soakaways are large chambers, often indicated on the surface by a solid cast iron cover.  The role of the soakaway is to take all the water from the road side gully system and to gradually release the water back into the ground.  These chambers can be vast, the average being 9 metres deep and 3 metres wide. 

 

As in the case with gully pots, the drainage team are only responsible for maintaining the system under the ground and not the cover.

 

Soakaway

 

 

 

Catch Pits

 

Catch pits work in a similar way to a gully but with and inlet and an outlet pipe.  They are designed to catch any silt or debris in the water, but let the water drain away.  These are located from the surface by a cast iron manhole cover, much like that of the soakaway.  Again, the drainage team are responsible for the catch pit, but not the cover.

 

 

 

Culverts

 

Culverts are large pipes that take water under the road, normally from drainage ditches.  Ditches are the responsibility of the land owner and a culvert going under private property is also the land owner’s responsibility, but if it goes under the road, it is likely to be owned and maintained by us.

 

 

Drainage Lagoons

 

Lagoons work on the same bases as a Soakaway in that they collect the highways water, and realise it slowly into the ground. Lagoons are often found in rural locations and from the surface can look like a large pond or lake.  These are very deep and generally are only maintained by us if they only take highways water.