Transport and streets
Thefts of gully drain covers continue across Walsall
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Thefts of gully drain covers continue across Walsall. Residents are urged to be cautious and report any criminal activity.
Walsall Council’s highways bosses remain extremely concerned at the level of thefts of gully drain covers — the drains at the side of the road next to the kerb which feed rainwater into the public sewer system.
So far this calendar year there have been 342 thefts and on 20 July alone there were 28 thefts. The cost to the public purse so far this year is £110,800.
“ That’s a significant amount of public money that we’d rather spend on our looked after children and caring for our most vulnerable residents, rather than fixing things after criminals have left our highways in a dangerous condition.
If residents see this criminal activity in progress, I would ask them to consider their own safety and not attempt to intervene, but report any information they have to West Midlands police and also to Walsall Council. Any footage from doorbell cameras is particularly welcomed. If we can find them and recover costs from them, we will. We will also come down heavily on scrap dealers who allow these to be ‘weighed in’, as a drain cover’s purpose is patently obvious.
We have around 37,825 gully covers across the borough, of varying ages, designs and sizes. This means there isn’t a handy stockpile of covers in the yard which can be quickly fitted, so our contractor Tarmac has to ‘plate’ the missing covers while replacements are organised to ensure the safety of highway users.
We’re not just replacing like for like though. Our approach is to do a more thorough job and install covers in such a way that it will make it very much more difficult for these criminals to get their hands on their ill-gotten gains. It does cost more, but it’s investment for the future.
I can understand people may think it’s just a 10 minute job, but it isn’t and certainly not if we want to future-proof. When we walk, drive or cycle, we only see the surface, but there’s a lot of engineering underground.
I’d like to place on the record my thanks to our highways teams for their vigilance and also to Tarmac for their responsiveness; they work closely together to keep us all safe. “
