Five flooding hotspots in Rochford will have vital works carried out to prevent a repeat of last month’s deluge which damaged homes.

Essex County Council has £1million available for parts of the county badly hit by the torrential rain of July 20.

It was the second time in a year Rochford, and other parts of south Essex including Canvey, flooded heavily.

Tory-run Rochford District Council was asked by highways bosses at County Hall to put forward roads which need attention.

They were:

- Beneath the railway bridges at Spa Road, in Hockley, Church Road, in  Hockley, and Hall Road, in Rochford

- Watery Lane, in Hullbridge

- Barling Road, near Kingsmead Cottages, in Barling.

Tory Keith Hudson, deputy leader of the district council, said: “We can’t sit around waiting for more flooding – we need to get things sorted.

“We aren’t the authority responsible for flooding and it’s infuriating to see thousands of pounds’ damage caused to homes when works costing half that should have been carried out before.”

As well as the five sites, work involving pipe laying and new ditches has been carried out at Hedgehope Avenue and Fairmead, in Rayleigh, and Westminster Drive, in Hockley.

In Watery Lane – a notorious flooding hotspot – a ditch will be dug, which Mr Hudson hopes will relieve the problem permanently.

Spa Road, in Hockley, and Hall Road, in Rochford, have blocked gullies, so funds will go on work to ensure that does not happen again.

In Church Road, in Hockley, County Hall is pursuing enforcement action against the private owner of a drain, which leaks o nto the road, compounding the flooding, and has cleaned all the pipework there.

In Barling Road, in Barling, extra measures will be taken to ensure a problem ditch does not keep flooding.

The pot of cash will sit alongside an expected £100,000, stumped up by County Hall and Rochford Council to reinforce flood defences in the district.

Rochford hopes to be in regular dialogue with Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to keep on top of any blockages.

District Council leader, Terry Cutmore, said: “After the flooding in our district last year it became very apparent that there were areas which needed work to help prevent flooding occurring again.

“Although flooding issues are not our responsibility, wewanted to ensure all the relevant agencies sat down together to discuss how to tackle the issues.”