I remember a few years ago (well it’s more than a few years) when I was working in Northwich town centre going for a walk in my lunch hour to go and have a look at the water flowing under the bridges over the Dane and Weaver.

While Northwich had remained relatively dry in the preceding weeks, there had been heavy rain in and around Derbyshire and there were fears that the Dane could over-top when it reached Northwich and the confluence with the Weaver.

The water was certainly flowing high and fast, and in fact came very close, a matter of centimetres, from flooding the town.

But it didn’t. And we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyone from Northwich will be well aware of the potential for the town to flood and there is plenty of historical evidence for this.

The great flood of 1946 engulfed the town centre and famously, a policeman had to row a small boat to the Regal Cinema to rescue the manager who had become trapped as the water rushed in. I’m given to understand this event was recorded on a mural in the cinema and perhaps some of our local historians or older citizens could confirm this.

In any event, it was well recognised that Northwich was at risk of flooding so fast forward to 2016 when flood defences, costing £7m, were started to be installed in the town to prevent the Dane and Weaver from breaking their banks.

And here’s the thing. They worked when Storm Christoph lashed the town last week. Yes, they really did, holding back the rivers and stopping them from breaching.

I’m sure that will come as a great relief to all those property owners who were flooded out as the waters rose up.

If you don’t believe me, these are the words of Environment Secretary George Eustice: “The important thing is the flood defence scheme worked, it did its job.

“It kept the river within its boundaries and we didn’t get the river bursting its banks and flooding the town.

So what’s the problem then?

Well, according to Mr Eustice, (and he should know because he’s the Environment Secretary): “The issue was with surface water drainage,” adding the Environment Agency, United Utilities and the local authority “are working on a plan to try to improve that drainage”.

Well that’s cleared that up then. Let’s not forget, this is the second time in two years the town has flooded so it’s probably a good idea to sort it out once and for all.

But hang on a minute, United Utilities isn’t having any of that.

A spokesman for the company told the BBC that flooding was a “complex issue” which had to be tackled as a whole system, adding: “The sewer network in Northwich operated as designed. The two critical pumping stations that serve Northwich have been working exactly as they should to keep sewer flows moving through the system.

“However, the record water levels in the River Weaver naturally prevented the town’s drainage overflow systems from operating.”

So has that cleared it up then? By my reckoning, everything worked as it should but the town centre still flooded.

I’m with Weaver Vale Mike Amesbury who has called for a full investigation into why the town flooded again. This needs sorting and it needs sorting quickly.

The sad thing is there may be no answer.

Perhaps the effects of climate change mean we will all just have to learn to live with the effects of these weather events.

If there is any consolation to be drawn from last week it’s that things could have been much, much worse.

According to the Environment Agency’s Dave Brown, because the flood defences stopped the two rivers breaking their bank, they saved the town from even greater damage.

“We would have had a really dangerous situation,” said Mr Brown.

“We wouldn’t have been able to form the rescue that we did in the way they did because we would have had fast-flowing water, people would have been knocked off their feet.”

For that, I suppose, we should all be thankful.

On a completely different topic, I notice Cheshire West and Chester Council is consulting on proposals that could see bins being collected once every three weeks.

Personally, I thought it was a retrograde step when we moved from weekly bin collections but I just about came to terms with it because of the recycling element.

The council is putting forward two proposals and ‘Option B’ is the one that would see once every three weeks collections.

So I’ll get CWAC deputy leader Cllr Karen Shore to explain the rationale behind the proposals. She said: “We are preparing a new strategy to ensure that our vision and priorities reflect the needs of our communities, are aligned to emerging national plans and policies, as well as helping to address the climate emergency.”

Do they have to have special lessons to learn to speak like that, I wonder?