An angry villager is calling on The Environment Agency to tidy an overgrown ditch which “hasn’t been maintained for at least eight years”.

Andy Burrell says the ditch opposite his home on Newgate Road in Tydd St Giles is “becoming shallower” and people are using it to dump garden waste.

“There is a roadside ditch along Newgate Road that has not been maintained for at least eight years,” said Mr Burrell.

Wisbech Standard: Newgate Road in Tydd St Giles.Newgate Road in Tydd St Giles. (Image: Google Maps)

“The local councils will not or cannot for whatever reason either maintain the ditch or get the landowner to maintain the ditch.

“Interestingly a number of the roadside drains in the road run into it but again the county highways shrug it off as nothing to do with them.

“The local drainage board North Level Internal Drainage Board are not responsible for the ditch but this ditch should drain into one of their maintained ditches but it is all blocked by debris and weeds.

“The Environment Agency are not interested in taking any action either.

Wisbech Standard: The overgrown ditch along Newgate Road in Tydd St Giles.The overgrown ditch along Newgate Road in Tydd St Giles. (Image: Andy Burrell)

“The ditch is overgrown and becoming shallower, some people in the road even dump grass cuttings and other garden waste into it and it just fills to the brim when it rains heavily.

“A number of gardens opposite the drainage ditch flood; but without the ditch being maintained it is impossible for anyone to say this is the cause.

“The field itself is like a lake in places as it cannot drain anywhere.”

Who is responsible for the ditch on Newgate Road, Tydd St Giles? Email: harry.rutter@archant.co.uk