There were repeated calls for action to tackle the Headington Lake at yesterday’s Ward Focus Meeting. The puddle outside Barclays Bank at the weekend was deeper and wider than ever.

Councillors have sent in a whole catalogue of complaints about this for a long period of time. We discussed it at length with the team leader of the County’s Drainage team today to try and agree a course of action.

There is an underlying problem to which officers refer as “deformation of the carriageway”. That would require significant expenditure on the road surface to resolve.

But the second problem centres on the gulleys and the sewer beneath, responsibility for which is shared by the Council and Thames Water.  Questions that need answering are:

 “Are the gulleys in good working order?”

“Are there sufficient gulleys?”

The City’s Highways Dept has checked out the gulley situation for the County Council, and have confirmed that the gulleys have been jetted out twice and are in good working order. There are sufficient gulleys there for surface water to run off.

So this now brings us to another question.

“If the gulleys are working fine, is there some sort of fracture in the pipe between the gulleys and the sewer?”

The City is currently investigating this for the County Council but it doesn’t look as though this is the case.

So now to the final question:

“Is the underground system so overloaded that surface water floods from the sewer back into the road?”

If that is found to be the case, then Thames Water must be brought in to make an assessment and come up with a plan to increase the capacity.

We are on the case and are ensuring that all parties are communicating effectively with each other. Meanwhile, if YOU have any photos of the Headington Lake, please send them through to us as these will give more clues as to whether the system, rather than the gulleys, is overloaded.