BRADFORD Council came to the rescue when a secluded street flooded recently.

But despite its swift action to protect houses in and around Hayhills Road, Silsden, the council has refused to cover the cost of repairs.

Residents of the unadopted road have been told they alone are responsible for sorting out the problem of a blocked pipe running under the road.

District and town councillor Rebecca Whitaker, who originally called in the council to carry out emergency action, reluctantly agrees that City Hall cannot dig into its pockets to help the townspeople.

She said: “The law says it’s the responsibility of residents because it’s an unadopted road, so when they bought their houses the survey should have highlighted that.

“I don’t know whether residents will have insurance, but that’s unfortunately down to them. Bradford has a lot of unadopted roads and has hardly enough money to take care of the roads they already have responsibility for.”

The incident occurred during heavy rain, with a torrent of water running down Hayhills Road and into the centre of town.

Cllr Whitaker said a gully team cleared what appeared to be a blocked drain, but as water sprung up in various places it was clear there was a more serious cause.

She said: “The council was reluctant to do anything at first because the road is unadopted, but I asked them to intervene because water was impacting on Skipton Road and people were getting splashed. The council did its best to resolve the matter.”

Mike Roberts, one of the residents affected, said: “Hayhills Road became a river due to the rain. Some properties were flooded and Bridge Street was affected.

"Bradford Council sent an officer and provided sandbags, which removed the flooding threat.

“The immediate crisis is over, but the next heavy rains will cause a repeat. As this is unadopted there will no doubt be an argument with the council as to who does what - and who pays!”

A council spokesman confirmed that because Hayhills Road was unadopted, responsibility for maintenance lay with the owners of properties along the road.

She said: “The work we have carried out so far has been a goodwill gesture, but any further work needed will be the responsibility of the residents.

“We visited along with a contractor on December 27 to sandbag part of this road. This diverted the water to a manhole further down to stop it flowing on to Bridge Street.

“We again visited on December 28 and January 2 to investigate the problem. Investigations so far have discovered what looks to be a blockage in the watercourse running under the road.”