Residents in Maidstone can hope to experience less highway flooding in future, after KCC chose the borough to trial a new method of assessing its drains and gullies to see which are at risk of blocking up.

The authority believes that the method developed by a Bournemouth software company called KaarbonTech will enable it to better target which drains need attention - before the worst occurs.

All 36,000 gullies in Maidstone have been inspected and their existing condition plotted on a geographic information mapping system which over-laps the findings with other sources of data, such as the history of cleansing activity in the past nine years, complaints received over the past five years, remedial maintenance over the past five years and historic CCTV surveys.

It pops up with a list of which gullies are most at risk and need cleansing.

Previously, the council had relied solely on assessing the silt measurement on the day of inspection.

It is thought that the new scheme will be self-improving overtime as it absorbs more data.

By striking a better balance between proactive and reactive maintenance, KCC hopes the overall maintenance cost per gully will be reduced - as well as sparing residents and motorists the problem of flooding.

The Maidstone trials come amid concerns over increasingly frequent flash floods experienced across Kent's 13 boroughs and districts.

The problem seems to be getting worse with more extreme weather events occurring, the problem of "urban creep" - meaning as more land is built on, so more run-off goes into the drain system instead of being soaked up by the earth, and the increasing age of Kent's drainage system, with some parts more than 100 year old.

Cllr Michael Payne (Con), KCC's highways cabinet member, told his colleagues at last week's cabinet meeting: “While such events can cause suffering on a local level, their effects can be magnified by local circumstances."

Storm and flood repairs cost the Kent taxpayer £5m in the last financial year, with hundreds of trees falling across the county and roads flooded in eight "severe weather events" from June 2019 to March 2020.

Kent faced miserable days of wet and windy weather when Storm Alex hit the county less than three weeks ago, with a lake forming in King's Road in Herne Bay on October 2.

Flood alerts have been repeatedly issued for Ramsgate, Sandwich and Deal by the Environment Agency this year.

The new technology should help KCC find out which drains are close to bursting and assist in "proactive" cleansing.

Simon Jones, the director for highways and transport, said: "We are looking at sustainable and natural ways to help deal with surface water run-off and other drainage problems that we encounter."

Mr Jones said: “We will get better information about which drainage assets need most attention and that’s where we can direct all of our efforts."

KCC has also introduced a pilot scheme known as blue-green infrastructure, which uses existing green spaces, such as parks, ponds and woodlands, to reduce flood risk.

In Sittingbourne, 12 homes were frequently being flooded in Bell Road amid heavy rainfall.

So a soakaway, effectively a hole in the ground to allow water to seep through it, was made at an adjacent green space with capacity for 300,000 litres.

Another project has been set up in Margate's George Park to divert water from the surrounding roads into the green area and ponds located there.

Mr Jones said: “We want to be better informed, so we can deal with the root cause rather than the symptoms which is what we seem to be doing today."

Unfortunately, the trials so far suggest KCC needs to "proactively cleanse" around 17,000 gullies across Maidstone.

A spokesman said the cleansing had yet to commence, but would start shortly.

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