Case Study

Drainage and Ditching Works in Luppitt

Luppitt Parish Council were awarded funding for laying a new drain within the parish, as well as funding towards a project to create a new concrete ditch.

The Neighbourhood Highway Officer was aware of problems that had occurred in the past and work carried out by Highways had not addressed the cause of the problem. The plan was to dig out and lay perforated drain and overfill with clean stone, connect to existing drains under the road for approximately 280m. This work was carried out successfully to the benefit of the community. There has been a significant improvement in the safety of road users and walkers.

The work has solved a long-standing problem and will save Devon County Council significant amounts of money in future. Work has been carried out on a piecemeal basis over the years and it was felt that it was necessary to use more resources to tackle the root causes and so secure a long-term solution.

To minimise costs, we used a local contractor with the necessary expertise and qualifications to do the work. The scheme was match funded from the precept.

The parish council also received funding towards a project to create 125m of new concrete ditch adjacent to the road and install new 6” pipe under a gateway to connect to a new concrete ditch. This has been a problem area for many years and had resulted in a serious deterioration of the road.

Once work started, the parish council realised that further work was needed in the area to solve the ongoing problems. After careful consideration, the parish council decided to extend the work planned and the extra cost was met from the precept.

The edge of the road was dug out and refilled with concrete to form a water channel in Shelves Lane as planned. The additional work at Antelope Corner involved digging out an existing drain and refilling with concrete to form a water channel. From Shelves Farm to Shelf Lane, the contractor cut out the tarmac on the edge of the road, then dug out and replaced concrete to form a water channel to the new catchment drain.

This work has been carried out successfully to the benefit of the community and there has been a significant improvement in the safety of road users and walkers.