This past week has been a bit of a wash-out.

Certainly insofar as I remember, some places in West Dorset have been the worst hit by flooding that I’ve seen since 1998 when I’d just passed my driving test! Winterbourne Abbas garage submerged. Many roads totally impassable and villages such as Toller Porcorum, Chetnole and Holnest hugely affected.

While some flooding occurrences are rare and unpredictable, there are also some locations especially on West Dorset’s road network that had become notorious flooding hotspots, to the point where it is almost predictable when flooding will occur. When our A roads form the arteries connecting the communities across what is a considerably large (400 square miles to be precise) constituency, it had occurred for way too long.

My A-Roads Taskforce has already racked up successes across the constituency, with the notorious flooding hotspot at Monkey’s Jump where the A35 meets the A37 being a case in point. At my first taskforce meeting in April, I was told that the necessary works on the roundabout may take over a year, maybe two to complete. I made a very direct challenge to this and suggested a much more ambitious target, so to see drainage works finally completed is good. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be looking to build on this by ensuring roads receive prioritisation.

From the ongoing discussions I am having with water companies, it is clear that the practice of new home developers directly connecting surface water drains into the sewage network cannot continue. While it is right and proper that water companies are held to account over these matters where it is appropriate, we must also recognise that there is a wider factors at play here that the water companies cannot control. But the growing trend of houses being built on flood plains is a practice that needs to stop.

CHRIS LODER

WEST DORSET MP