Huge road 'puddle' puts village's listed cottage at risk
A huge puddle is threatening a listed building in East Lambrook.
A stone wall at Tim Dunk’s thatched grade two listed cottage is being lashed by waves and spray from cars travelling through a flooded road.
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Flooding at New Cross between East and West Lambrook is eroding away the wall of the grade two listed house belonging to Tim Dunk
A stonemason has examined the property and told Mr Dunk the excessive amount of water is weakening the wall.
He fears it will become unsafe and collapse.
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During the county-wide deluge in December, the cottage flooded for the first time in the 30 years it has been in Mr Dunk’s family.
He said the road had been flooded for five weeks and, despite bringing it to the attention of Somerset County Council, the water is still there.
The 60-year-old said: “There must be a blocked drain or something because a large volume of water has built up outside the house.
“The council sent someone down and basically dismissed it.
“In the meantime, every time a car drives through the water the wall of the cottage gets soaked.
“I got a stonemason around and he said it is eroding the bottom of the wall and fears it will come down.
“He said the next problem could be that frost will develop and further affect the wall.
“The cottage is a grade two listed building so I can’t make any alterations willy-nilly.
“Therefore it amazes me that the council doesn’t think it has any responsibility when it is a nationally-protected building.
“I’ve tried to do everything through the proper channels but I don’t seem to be getting anywhere that way.”
Mr Dunk’s insurance company has visited his home.
A neighbouring farmer has even carried out work to see if a blockage can be traced to his farm.
Mr Dunk said: “I had to move all the furniture upstairs for the first time I have lived in the property. I just accepted the flooding as one of those things but this big build-up of water is a real problem.
“No one seems to give a damn. My friends and family cannot believe I was flooded as I live on top of a hill. It’s unbelievable.”
A spokeswoman for Somerset County Council said: “We sympathise with Mr Dunk and have been in regular contact to try and solve the issue.
“We attended on Thursday and cleared a substantial amount of water from the highway.
“Following the recent wet weather, water was found to be discharging from adjacent saturated fields onto the road.
“We are in talks with the adjacent landowner and further works to confirm the location of a blocked section of pipe will be carried out on Friday.
“Mr Dunk has been updated on the results of the work and of our intentions.”
Some of the worst flooding in 40 years hit Somerset at the end of 2012. Homes in Mudford, Martock and Langport were flooded while the village of Muchelney was cut off for more than a fortnight.
The Met Office reported last week that 2012 was the second wettest year since records began.
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