AN ELDERLY woman who has struggled to leave her own home for the past five years due to flooding, says the issue is getting worse.

Glenda Higgins a resident of Winchester Road in Shirley, added that Southampton City Council and Southern Water "don't want to know" about the problem.

She says that when it rains the water doesn’t drain away, and instead comes back up out of the drain, bringing large amounts of mud with it.

Children are made to walk into the road to get past the flooding on their way to school, according to the resident.

Glenda, 76, has lived at the property 34 years and said: “It’s so annoying because you make up your mind you are going to go out, but then I can’t go treading all that mud into a taxi.

“If you get rain, it forms a puddle in no time and the water board and council don’t want to know.

“It’s an absolute shambles because there’s lots of old people round here and the mud on the pavement is slippery.”

Glenda, a retired secretary, lives at the property by herself and says she has tried to get in touch with both the council and Southern Water, but still the problem persists.

She claims it is getting worse, and is now encroaching on her property.

“It takes up 3 car parking spaces in front of my house and my neighbours.

“It comes through my hedge onto my paving slabs and with the winter, it never dries up.”

City Councillor Steve Leggett, Cabinet Member for Green City and Place says that the council are aware of the issues.

“The ressident of one of these properties notified us last year of the issue.

"We instructed our contractor to review this situation, the team has removed blockages on several occasions and also completed a survey of the drains.

"A defect under the main road has been highlighted and as such this is a matter for Southern Water.  

"We have confirmed again today that Southern Water are aware of this as it has been reported by both the council and resident on previous occasions.

"Southern Water is responsible for the necessary repair, to support the resident we have asked for an update on the progress of this work and an expected completion date."

However, a Southern Water spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with Council officials and conducted a thorough investigation of our assets in the area.

“We are confident our sewers are operating correctly and are not contributing to the drainage problems.”