Householder turns dambuilder

A father-of-four in Telford facing flooding misery has taken matters into his own hands - and built a dam to protect his home.

Water from nearby land owned by regeneration agency English Partnerships runs down a drainage channel that ends at Peter Lisney’s property and water can spill out in his garden.

Check out our photo gallery below

Mr Lisney, of Dulwich Grange, Bratton, says the agency wants to build a culvert leading to the sewers - but it could be months before work starts.

In the meantime, workmen have put up sandbags.

Mr Lisney, 39, a business consultant, says the sandbags are not high enough to protect his home, so he built a dam to stop water flow in the channel. But on Saturday workmen from English Partnerships arrived to knock it down.

Mr Lisney said: “The drainage channel runs from Wellington and is about 1.5 miles long.

“It stops when it gets to my land without any further draining being in place. For water that collects at the end, the only place for it to go is in our back garden.”

Last summer, people from the area built trenches around the Lisney home to stop it flooding during heavy rain.

Mr Lisney said: “Constructing my own dam is using common sense, but for English Partnerships to remove it leaves an inadequate defence.”

Today English Partnerships defended its action. A spokesman said as the landowner it had a duty of care to householders.

“We have had to remove an artificial blockage which could have caused a build-up of water to be diverted towards a number of homes” he said.