HUNDREDS of miles of roads have been prepared and readied for the start of the wet autumn weather, as the county council splashes £500,000 on its highways.

Teams at Hampshire County Council have cleared 96,000 roadside drains along with 9,600 catchpit pipes, cut and cleaned 5,000 country road drainage ditches, and installed 11 new drainage schemes across the region.

This has seen an investment of half a million pounds since April, with the majority of the cash going towards the drainage schemes to reduce flooding.

Transport chief, Councillor Rob Humby, said: “Keeping Hampshire moving so people can get to work, school and college every day, whatever the weather, is our priority.

“Heavy, intense rainfall can, as we all know, result in localised flooding, and keeping the water off Hampshire’s 5,500 miles of road surfaces is at the forefront of our highways work throughout the winter.”

Alongside the annual roadside ditch clearing programme and routine maintenance work, civic chiefs say there are even more planned improvements to highways surface water drainage systems to make Hampshire’s road network more resilient to the effects of extreme weather.

Each year, around £2 million is earmarked for maintaining 560 miles of highway drains and roadside gullies, but the council says there are many gullies and watercourses on private land which can become blocked without regular maintenance.

These blockages can often lead to flooding on local roads after heavy rainfall.

Councillor Humby continued: “While flooding can’t be completely prevented, there is a lot we can all do to reduce the impact on our communities.

“I’d like to ask all residents and landowners to make sure ditches and drains on their land are kept clear of leaves, vegetation and other debris as this will compliment the work the county council already does and ensure that, collectively, we have done everything we can to reduce, or in many cases eliminate, the risk of flooding.”