AN Edgware man is having to stop a major overflow ditch behind his house flooding him out because it is a “health and safety” risk to Environment Agency workers.

In the past fortnight Chez Slowick has twice had to perch on a perilous ledge with his son during torrential downpours to unblock the ditch behind his Penhurst Gardens home.

The ditch, which flows into the Deans Brook, collects overflow water from surrounding estates, picking up litter, leaves and even logs in heavy storms.

The site was “red carded” earlier this year, and workers who have been visiting the site for two decades to do the work are now barred.

In March the normally shallow trickle was inundated after a water main burst near the A41, carrying logs and branches in a torrent of thousands of gallons of water.

Mr Slowick, a former engineer who now teaches maths said: “The Environment Agency is responsible for preventing flooding, but by not clearing this blockage they’re failing in their duty.

“It’s a joke. There hasn’t been a health and safety problem here for the last 15 years since I’ve lived here, so why is there one now? It shouldn’t be up to me to clear this up.”

He has asked the agency to bring forward work planned for next year to put steps down the steep bank to the ditch, and put in permanent rubbish guards to replace temporary ones he installed.

The 60-year-old added: “They say my measures are a flood risk, but they actually stop a lot of flooding by catching debris up stream. They don’t seem to know what’s going on.

“It’s ridiculous to me they can’t see this could cause a major problem for me and my neighbours if it floods.”

But Angie Wills, operations delivery manager for the agency, said their workers will not return to the area until it has been made safe.

She added: “We have checked whether there are any alternative ways for us to safely clear the screen and would have resumed clearance immediately if there was, but unfortunately there is not.

“While access to the site remains unsafe we will not be able to carry out the clearance work and would strongly advise residents to consider their own safety in the meantime.

"We are in regular contact with the local resident and hope to have the screen fixed before the end of this year."