I noticed some Cheshire East Highways men and a lorry on the Heath on Thursday so walked over to see what they were doing and had a long chat.
Apparently, several drains on Tabley Road have been backing up, and they were finding out why. There is a long-buried pipe stretching right across The Heath to the heather area. The end of it had shattered and become blocked.
They had found a manhole cover about halfway between Tabley Road and the heather area, which they had lifted and were flushing water through the pipe to clear it.
The plan is to put a curved pipe in at the end that will guide the water to the lowest point – which happens to be on the path that has become a popular walk-through. If it becomes muddy after heavy rain, we will know why.
Joy Jones
Postscript – 14th September
With the Tabley Road drainage problem remedied, the pipe is now open at the top of the slope above the heather area and draining freely down the footpath to the lowest point.
The next step, according to the representative of Cheshire East Highways, will be “to extend it by a few metres so that it discharges under gravity, this will also require a small headwall at the end of the new section of pipe.”
I expressed concern about possible adverse effects of wetting the heathland and I am pleased to report that he has decided to have an ecological survey done before undertaking further work.
Kevin Griffiths
