CHESHIRE West and Chester is better prepared to tackle future flooding in the borough, the council has said.

A year on from Storm Christoph causing widespread flooding across the region, council leaders say that 'enormous steps' to ensure the borough is better prepared.

This includes working closely with communities, businesses and partner organisations such as the Environment Agency and United Utilities to explore and tackle the key issues involved, plus setting up a Flood Risk Action Group (FRAG) to develop responses and actions that need to be undertaken.

In collaboration with the Environment Agency and United Utilities, additional temporary pumping equipment has been tested in Northwich ready for immediate use.

Measures have been put in place so that additional pumping from the river can be provided, if needed, and multi-agency emergency response plans have been improved to help reduce the impact of future flooding.

The council added that its gully (grid) annual cleaning programme, which aims to clean 86,650 grids across the borough at least once before March this year, is running ahead of schedule.

This involves large-scale drainage jetting and sweeping operations to keep drainage systems and road surfaces as clear of debris as possible.

Councillor Karen Shore, Cheshire West and Chester Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport, said: "Serious flooding can happen at any time and climate change projections suggest extreme weather will happen more frequently in the future.

"In addition to the practical actions the council and partner agencies are carrying out to make us more prepared, it is important that our communities become more resilient to react to future flooding incidents.

"We have updated available information on the council website to inform people of the issues and to offer advice and resources on how to be more flood resilient."