MYTH: The council is responsible for drains.
FACT: The council maintains the gullies in the Peterborough city council area in both the city, surrounding villages and rural areas. Gullies are pot-like chambers in the ground that are installed at the edge of roads, footpaths and in public car parks, designed to collect surface water through a grate.
People often refer to gullies as drains which is why we called this the ‘Drains and gullies myth buster’ but, to be clear, this myth buster is referring to the gullies we see at the side of the road, in a car park or footpath covered with a grated cover.
We maintain approximately 42,000 road, car park and footpath gullies.
Water collected in these gullies is sent through a pipe network to Anglian Water’s surface sewer system. In some locations, particularly rural roads the excess surface water might be channelled into an adjacent drainage ditch.
MYTH: Peterborough City Council is responsible for all gullies in Peterborough
FACT: This is not quite true, we maintain 42,000 gullies that are located on adopted public highways in Peterborough.
However, National Highways is responsible for the maintenance of gullies alongside motorways and trunk roads (A1 and A47).
Gullies located on non-adopted roads are the responsibility of the landowner and gullies on new developments that have not yet been adopted remain the responsibility of the developer.
Anglian Water is responsible for the foul water sewers and surface water sewers. The surface water sewers are the ones that highway gullies can connect into.
In one road there may be multiple agencies with responsibility, for example Peterborough City Council could be responsible for the gullies whereas Anglian Water is responsible for the drain which the gullies connect into.
MYTH: The gullies are never cleaned
FACT: This is not true. We have one gully tanker that cleans gullies. The gully cover (grating) is removed and any debris like silt, leaves or litter is sucked out through a special vacuum hose.
The gully tanker directs high pressure water into the gully pot and pipework to dislodge compacted silt and any blockages.
If there are blockages that cannot be removed in this way, specialist equipment will be required.
The waste collected by the tanker is taken to the contractor's depot where is dried out and the dry gully waste is sent to be recycled into compost.
We collect approximately 80 tonnes of waste from gullies each year.
MYTH: A good gully system will keep the road completely free from surface water.
FACT: Gullies are quite small and during heavy downpours, they cannot handle large volumes of water in a short period of time, regardless of how well-maintained they are.
MYTH: All flooding is caused by blocked drains.
FACT: While blocked gullies contribute, most surface water flooding is due to the limited capacity of the underground pipe system, not the gullies.
MYTH: Roads flood because the council doesn’t clear drains properly
FACT: Cleaning gullies doesn’t always solve the problem straight away.
When the council clean a gully, if the drain which the gully is connected to is blocked it can result in the gully backing up. To overcome this our highways team works closely with partners to report these issues to get them resolved as soon as we can.
Peterborough City Council inspects and cleans all its drainage network by area every two years as part of a rolling programme.
Additionally, we respond to reports of blocked drains and gullies through Report it online | Peterborough City Council and FixMyStreet.
Blocked gullies reported by residents or identified during routine patrols are investigated. If they pose minimal risk of flooding or road user safety, they are monitored and later cleaned as part of the regular gully maintenance programme or incorporated into planned major works at that location, ensuring efficient use of council maintenance budgets.
MYTH: The council only clears gullies that are reported to them
FACT: We will inspect every gully that is reported to us but this work is in addition to our routine biennial maintenance and cleansing programme.
MYTH: Some of the city drains haven’t been cleaned for over 10 years and that’s why they are blocked
FACT: This is not true! We cleanse all of our gullies on a rolling two-year programme. Sometimes it’s not possible to cleanse gullies if cars are parked over the gully cover or the gully lid is jammed. Therefore, if you see a gully tanker in your neighbourhood please try not to park over the gullies.
Additionally seasonal factors also play a role, such as autumn leaf fall. When compacted leaves block the gully cover, additional resources are sometimes needed to address these issues.
MYTH: The council never clear drains when road improvement schemes are taking place
We do! When there are planned major works on our network we will incorporate gully cleaning into that programme, ensuring efficient use of council maintenance budgets.
MYTH: If it is raining heavily you should report a blocked gully straight away
FACT: Some gullies cannot drain the water away fast enough and therefore will overflow or bubble up during periods of intense rain fall. Once the rain stops, the gully usually drains away the water without needing any attention.
If the flooding is causing a potential hazard to road users or there is standing water, you can report it
If it isn’t causing a hazard and there has been recent heavy rain, wait a short time before reporting a gully that appears to be blocked to see if it drains away.
MYTH: The council never fixes damaged or missing gully grating or manhole covers
If a gully or manhole is loose, noisy, damaged, sunken or missing, please report it to us on FixMyStreet or Report it online | Peterborough City Council