Roadside drains

The county's highway drainage system 

We look after: 

• approximately 140,000 gullies and gully grids (the metal gratings in the gutter) on adopted roads in Leicestershire 
• approximately a total of 12 miles (20 km) of combined kerb drainage (the concrete kerbs with holes in), 
• some, but not all, underground culverts and pipework and a small number of ponds

Highway drainage systems are designed specifically for managing surface water from roads and the adopted highway.  They are not designed for surface water flowing onto the highway from surrounding land or from private connections. 

Motorways and trunk roads

Report to National Highways  

Roads awaiting adoption

Speak to your housing developer

Public foul water and surface water drains and sewers

Report to Severn Trent Water and Anglian  

A watercourse or ditch running on or under your private land, or on the boundary of your land

Find out about riparian owner responsibilities.

For more information on who is responsible for drainage systems

Visit our Who to contact for flooding page.

Our duties 

Through a combination of proactive maintenance and long-term investment, we help protect road surfaces, from excess water build-up, ensuring a safer and more reliable transport network.  

Our duties include:  

• Routine maintenance – cleaning blocked drains and inspecting drainage systems for any damage and arranging repairs if needed. 
• Reactive works – responding to drainage issues reported by residents and road users.
• Small works packages – localised improvements, minor repairs, and targeted drainage solutions. 

Routine maintenance

Cleaning frequency 

We follow a risk-based approach to maintaining gullies and use a targeted cleanse programme, which ensures roads are attended according to need, therefore:

• Roads with a higher risk of flooding are cleansed more frequently.
• Roads with a lower risk of flooding are cleansed less frequently.

Each road is assessed and allocated a priority for cleansing based on:

• the likelihood of a blockage happening and the impact that may have on properties and on the highway network 
• historic silt levels within gullies  
• road hierarchy  
• gullies within areas of flood risk  
• previous gully cleaning information 
• local knowledge 

We have 3 priorities for gully cleansing:  

• P1 – attend every 10 months  
• P2 – attend every 20 months 
• P3 – inspect and reactively attend via customer contacts and/or inspections.  

Jetting of the highway system 

Jetting refers to the use of high-pressure water jets to clean and help maintain the highway drainage system 

We jet gullies to either clear a reported blockage or find out if there are other problems in the drainage system by using CCTV. We give priority to issues that present the biggest danger to road users or buildings and do this by assessing the risk.

Parked vehicles over gullies that need cleaning

Where there is a vehicle parked over a gully that needs cleaning, we will try to rearrange our visit. 

We will share dates and times of when we plan to visit to clean the gully by using; 

• advanced warning signs 
• signs on lamp columns 
• localised letter drops. 

Please keep the area free of obstruction by not parking over the gullies to allow our team to clean them. 

Before reporting an issue

Before you report an issue with a gully or drain you should be aware that gullies vary in the speed they can drain water away. Some will
overflow during heavy rain even if there is no blockage, but the water should clear when the rain stops and surface water should subside. We will not visit overflowing gullies during heavy rainfall unless the water is causing a risk to life or property.

Each gully has a trap in the bottom to collect and stop leaves, litter and dirt from entering the main drain and causing a blockage. As the trap fills up between cleanses this may cause the gully to overflow. This is a likely cause of most non-urgent issues, and will be picked up during our routine gully emptying.

If you think leaves, dirt or litter are blocking the gully grating you should make a report under the 'street sweeping/street cleaning'
category to address this to your local district council 

• Where there is a flooding emergency, or danger to life, call 999. 
• Where there is no immediate danger, you can report a blocked roadside drain or gulley online, or contact us on 0116 305 0001. 

When you report a blocked drain or gully, we’ll need the following information: 

• the location of the problem 
• a description of the problem, e.g. blocked drain
• if the area is flooded, and a description of the flood, e.g., area, depth, whether properties or gardens are at risk
• any problems, hazards or congestion it is causing 
• what is causing the blockage 

Don’t worry if you can’t provide all of this information, we’ll investigate the issue after we receive the report. 

Report a blocked roadside drain or gulley

If there is no immediate risk of flooding to nearby properties: 

• we will check our programme, and if the area is programmed to be cleansed within 90 calendar days, we will not normally raise a further request for the gully to be attended. 

If the blockage is causing an immediate risk, or the timescale is significantly outside 90 calendar days: 

• we will carry out an investigation, and if necessary, raise a works instruction to attend.

Our highways team responds to drainage concerns reported by residents and road users based on their urgency and impact:

1. Urgent response actions: Flooding that causes water to enter homes and properties or affects essential infrastructure—such as hospitals, schools, and transport hubs is addressed as a priority to minimize risk and disruption.  
2. Protecting land and key routes: Surface water affecting private land or crucial transport networks is assessed carefully to prevent long-term problems and ensure accessibility.   
3. Safety on roads and footways: Water accumulation that makes roads impassable or forces vehicles into opposing lanes is managed to maintain safe traffic flow. Pedestrian safety is also considered, particularly at bus stops, crossings, and footpaths.   
4. Ongoing maintenance and monitoring: Other drainage reports are reviewed and managed based on available resources. Routine maintenance ensures gullies and drainage systems remain operational, with reactive responses implemented when needed.