I feel compelled to respond to your article printed in your recent edition (October 19 2022) regarding the decision by Powys County Council to now have to spend £400,000 which is the cost of reintroducing their drain and gullies emptying service and the undertaking of the now created road repairs.

It’s incredulous that they made the decision years ago to almost discontinue this service, and no doubt it was made purely in the believe they would save money when in fact they now find themselves having to spend considerably more due to the road surfaces being continually subjected to uncontrolled copius amounts of flood water resulting in water penetration which has led to the premature breakdown of the road surfaces, which over time has created potholes, crumbling and dangerous uneven roads.

In addition to the above it’s also created a localised flooding problem to which no doubt it has brought unnecessary stress and anxiety to all those affected by it.

On a positive note at least Cllr Jeremy Pugh highlighted the fact that it was a poor decision (I would would call it myopic) in the first place to discontinue this service and I suggest we use his forward thinking on decisions in the future.

To conclude I would suggest that maybe the Local Authority should start making these people who make these poor decisions accountable and then maybe these decisions will be made more carefully and diligently in the future.

We can all live in hope can’t we, as with more and more cuts resulting in a reduced spending budget for our Local Authority it’s become more essential and imperative than ever to spend the money they have got more wisely and diligently and be proactive going forward rather than reactive.

I hope so anyway.

Clive Pritchard, Merthyr Tydfil