Nusrat Ghani, MP for Sussex Weald, has joined Hellingly Parish Council at a recent stakeholder forum in Hellingly to discuss progress made on works to prevent flooding and sewage overspills that have been causing issues to local residents for several years.
Since the severe incidents in January 2023, Nusrat has been intensely involved in a series of meetings with local authorities and Southern Water representatives regarding the matter, supporting the Parish Council in pushing for full review of current infrastructure provision, clarity on maintenance responsibilities from each stakeholder, and assessment of the necessary upgrades needed to improve the situation.
At the meeting, which brought together representatives of Southern Water, Wealden District Council, East Sussex County Council, East Sussex Highways and the Environment Agency, Nusrat welcomed the news that works upgrading the sewer including sealing 21 manholes and pipe re-lining have been completed. Assurances were also provided that work is ongoing to identify and rectify misconnections and more sewer monitors will be installed within the network. Previously, clearing works of the culverts along Park Road have also been carried out to reduce flood risk and enable the road to be better passable in periods of heavy rain.
Nusrat Ghani said: “Having been raising the matter with Southern Water for several years, I am pleased to have helped secure this investment. However, more needs to be done to resolve and prevent the flood issues in Hellingly and I share everyone’s frustration at the slow speed of improvements. Concerns about the pumping station and the overall network capacity have been raised as well and I look forward to receiving further updates and timeline for further investment from Southern Water in due course. I would like to thank Hellingly Parish Council’s Cllr David White and Jenny Hoodless for their tireless work on the matter and I will continue working with them to push all authorities to prioritise Hellingly for infrastructure upgrades.”
