Published: 16 July 2024
At our June Parish Council meeting we were pleased to have a presentation from Southern Water informing parishioners about the improvements that Southern Water will be making to our sewer system, from Funtington down to Bosham. I am attaching a letter to residents from Southern Water.
Southern Water will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday 16th July at 18:00 in West Ashling village hall to update all parishioners on their future plans, please come along to this very important meeting, when we hope all of your questions will be answered. As Southern Water’s intention is to line the main drains, as well as the laterals (drains on private properties), there will be future disruption to all householders, so please come along to this meeting to learn more about Southern Water’s future plans and how they may affect you.
By the time you receive this magazine, hopefully, Watery Lane will have been reopened, going forward; Jason Boswell and I are trying to make sure that a plan is put into place for next winter to make sure that Watery Lane remains open, even if tankers are required to take away the excessive ground water that has seeped into the foul water drains.
Highways will now be jetting through the blocked gullies throughout our parish, this work should be completed by late June, the areas they are concentrating on are Mill Road by the entrance to WA Mill, Southbrook Road by Waterloo Farm, south end of Mouthy’s Lane and the West Stoke bluebell woods road (the road with no name).
FPC will be resubmitting applications next month to try and get speed limits reduced in West Ashling and in West Stoke and to try and get some measures put in place that may hopefully slow down the traffic through East Ashling, a massive ‘thank you’ to the Community Highways team, led by David Ash, for all their hard work on this project.
The Parish Council have spoken to highways about the blocked ditches around the parish and we have been told that if a householder has a ditch bordering their property and the highway, then the ditch is the responsibility of the homeowner, so it would be wise to make sure that any ditches bordering your property are kept clear and free flowing, otherwise if a property floods because your ditch is not maintained, then an insurance company could hold you responsible.
The parish council will be having some of the pavements around West Ashling cleared, contractors will be clearing the pavement from the village hall down to Portal Close, the pavement from the Richmond Arms to the Dell and from the Dell to Edith Cottages.
I would also like to remind homeowners that if their property boarders onto a footpath then it is this property owners’ responsibility to make sure that none of their hedges hang over the footpath, if your property boarders a public footpath please make sure that nothing from your property overhangs onto the path, some of the paths around the parish are getting exceedingly difficult to walk down because of overhanging vegetation.
We have asked Openreach to look at their underground duct in Funtington and to make sure that ground water from it does not flood the road again this winter.
Highways have been asked to cut the grass at the top end of Southbrook Road, this just took one phone call, so please report anything you see such as fly tipping, overgrown junctions, overgrown footpaths/rights of way/bridlepaths or abandoned vehicles, anyone can report any/all of these things on-line.
Our next parish Council meeting is on Wednesday 3rd July at 18:30 in the Church Rooms, St Mary’s Church, Funtington, there is no PC meeting in August.
Jane Mottershead – Chair of Funtington Parish Council.
Letter from Southern Water
Our ref: Watery Lane
Date: 06/06/24
Contact: 0330 303 0368
Sewer rehabilitation works in the Funtington area
Dear Customer,
The sewer network that serves your village suffers from groundwater infiltration. This is when groundwater becomes so high it leaks into the sewer and can overwhelm it. Following the recent period of high groundwater levels in Funtington and the impact on our network and the community I would like to provide an update on the works we have planned to reline sections of sewer in the parish and explain the next steps.
We are proposing a program of sealing both private and public sewers, private sewers being the lateral drain that connects your property to the Southern Water network. The more sewer pipes we can seal, the less groundwater we will have to tanker during the winter. If at all.
The sealing of our public sewer network will require overpumping activities and traffic management.
The process of sealing private pipes will vary in time scale dependent on location during which time access to driveways may be restricted. We will not carry out work without your approval and residents will be consulted prior to starting work.
We intend to commence this work in September 2024 and have been in communication with the Parish Council on our proposals and are looking to set up a public meeting for us to run through our plans with you and set up a regular communication forum. We will update you on the expected duration of the work as part of our continued investigations.
Our investigations to date have shown the area we need to concentrate on is around Watery and Church Lanes, investigations will continue before and during the works.
I apologize for the temporary inconvenience this will cause. The sealing of sewers will reduce groundwater infiltration along with the flooding and pollution risk this brings and reduce the number of tankers required in the future.
Thank you in advance for supporting our work and helping the community.