VILLAGERS near the A12 say their lives have been made a misery because the council has failed to fix a drainage problem that causes the main road to flood for months at a time.
Residents say Terling Hall Road has flooded under a road bridge for at least 20 years, but despite regular complaints to the highways department nothing has been done.
County council engineers last drained the road on February 21 after heavy rainfall, but it also flooded in October and stayed waterlogged for four months.
Canmpaigners now fear the flooding will return whenever wet weather hits.
"Every six months for the last ten years I've reported this to the council and each time it fobs us off with excuses, like it's looking at long-term solutions, but still nothing has been done," said freelance French teacher Majella Jefferies, who lives in Terling, a village near Hatfield Peverel.
"I even got an e-mail from Cllr Rodney Bass, the cabinet member for highways, asking me to be more patient.
"We've been waiting for ten years, how more patient can we be? The council just act like we're hassling them."
She moved to the street ten years ago and says there was a problem with flooding from blocked drains even before her arrival, with one neighbour living in the area for 20 years.
"We moved here to be close to the A12 as both my husband and I need to get around for our jobs, as he runs an electrical business, but when the road is flooded we have to go on a huge 12-mile detour through Terling and Hatfield Peverel that adds extra time onto every journey.
"The water takes two or three days to clear away, then within a week it would come back again.
"It's a waste of public money. The council keeps sending out engineers to keep clearing it instead of just fixing the problem. It needs a permanent solution.
"We're looking at three options – a whole new drainage system was discussed but a bit of the land is part owned by Network Rail, so nothing really happened.
"More urgency needs to put on the matter, all of us have been affected for so long. I'm really concerned because if an ambulance needed to come through, there are a lot of elderly people down this road and it could have been a tragedy."
Nicola Lilley and her husband Tom work for Royal Mail in Boreham and moved to Terling Hall Road in December.
"The flooding has affected us badly and has a big impact on our daily lives," said Nicola.
"If that bridge isn't open we have to go on an extra 40-minute round trip to get to work or take our son to school.
"My son Ben goes to St John Payne School so he gets the bus from the main road and so he couldn't get to school for a few days in January.
"We've not had any feedback from the council, my husband's mobile phone bill was over £30 in just calls to the council to report the problem over and over again.
"The council has only made a temporary fix. We're concerned that the problem will come back as soon as the water table starts rising again."
Cllr Bass's visit 'did little to improve the issue'
THE county's highways boss Rodney Bass posed for pictures alongside council workers when the water was drained away in February after a deluge of rain.
The images were circulated to the local press as a good news story of the county council's work maintaining the highways.
But residents say the council is wasting taxpayers' money by simply draining the road, rather than trying to solve the problem of why it floods in the first place and claim they are not being taken seriously.
At the time, Cllr Bass watched a water recycling jetting lorry which the council say cleaned over 400m of pipework running from the road to the River Ter in Terling Hall Road, Hatfield Peverel.
Councillor Bass said in the press release: "Essex County Council is investing sensibly to make sure that flooding and other problems brought about by the ongoing severe weather are dealt with quickly and efficiently."
Now a council spokesperson says an investigation has revealed the problem is down to an old collapsed culvert and that a solution is of high priority.
"As an interim measure, whilst investigations continue, Essex Highways and their supply chain partners have been removing the water from the site by tanker every two days to avoid closing the road on a permanent basis and until a longer-term solution is found," the spokesman said.
"Over the last week the amount of water running off the adjacent land has slowed significantly and pumping operations have not been necessary.
"This site is a high priority and a number of longer-term solutions are currently under investigation.
"Investigations of the site dictate that whichever solution is favoured will mean that a new drainage system will have to be installed.
"This will need careful design due to the proximity to the mainline railway line/bridge and also because the land on both sides of the railway bridge rises away from the site.
"A solution to this local concern is of the highest urgency for the county council."
