STREETS will be flooded if badly clogged drains are not cleared, residents fear.

Grass and weeds can be seen growing out of drains along Southend Road, Wickford.

The problem is particularly bad between Wick Lane and South Beech Veterinary Surgery.

Resident David Preston, of Wick Lane, said: “Having grass and trees growing out the drains is not something you really expect to see.

“It has been like that for quite a while.

“It always floods at the corner of Wick Lane and Southend Road.

“Any time it rains, it floods there.

“It is disgusting that nothing has been done.

“You can almost mow the grass growing out of the drains and you will have to get the roots of the tree out otherwise it will keep coming back.

“I have reported it to the council many times - they are probably fed up of hearing from me.

“However, they don’t seem to know that Wickford exists - except when they want to stop us leaving with all the roadworks they are doing.”

He said the road is regularly flooded outside Wickford C of E School, at the junction with Mount Road, leaving pupils at risk of getting splashed by passing cars.

Nevendon Road and London Road, in Wickford, are also often underwater following heavy rainfall.

This leaves the subway linking Park Drive and Radwinter Avenue impassable.

Mr Preston said: “It means people have to dice with death as they try to cross the busy Golden Jubilee Way.

“The new houses being built in Wickford are making it worse.

“We understand that there is a need for more houses, but there needs to be the infrastructure first.”

The latest local plan from Basildon Council, revealed to the public in February, sets out plans for 3,300 houses in the town- with 64 per cent of them earmarked for green belt land.

The latest plan will replace proposals dating back to 2014 after the process was restarted following pleas from campaigners.

The consultation on the latest local plan ended in March.

A final version is set to be adopted by the council in 2018.

Failure to do so could result in the Government stepping in to decided which areas of the borough are developed.

A spokesman from Essex Highways said the drain will be cleaned, adding: “Our drainage engineers have inspected and logged this drain for clearance.”