A COUNCILLOR has called for "residents to come before sewage" after it was revealed that the emergency pumps which pump flood water on to the beach at Anchorsholme are not used because of the risk of pollution to the beach and sea water.

Norbreck's Coun Peter Callow (pictured) said residents were now living in fear of the next flood every time there was a heavy downpour and something needed to be done to ensure it never happened again.

He said: "We all now need to pull together to ensure this does not happen again. It is not a political issue, it is about people's homes and their lives. These people need help.

"If it is a choice between occasionally polluting the beaches and the sea and safeguarding people's properties we should help the people. I realise we are all in pursuit of cleaner beaches but there are times when we simply have to put people first. "The council should be taking a lead in this. All councillors from every ward in the town should be involved because it could happen anywhere," he added.

Coun Callow's remarks came after an investigation this week found the new system installed to combat the 1981 floods does not work properly when there is very heavy rainfall. Recent investigations showed turbulence during heavy rainfall prevented water from draining out of the system.

North West Water last week (early October) revealed that homes were flooded even before stormwaters had flowed through the network to the pumping station. And they are now conducting tests using computer and mathematical models to look at the dynamics of stormwater pouring down drains and racing along sewers. Coun Callow has criticised North West Water for the way they have gone about the whole enquiry. He said: "There seems to be a design fault in the system and they are now trying to rectify it. They have got to get back to the drawing board quickly and amend that fault."

But Coun Callow thought the procedure had originally been conducted the wrong way round. He said: "Tests should have been conducted on the system before it was installed, not after." John Carberry, from North West Water, said the problem with last month's flooding was the amount of rainfall rather than pumping station problems. He added that homes were flooded even before water had got to the storage tanks which meant that the beach pumps would not have been able to save homes from flooding.

He said: "We need permission from the Environment Agency to use the beach pumps but in this last case it was the sheer volume of water running through the sewers that was the problem.

"The big square sewer which runs along Warren Drive measures three metres by three metres and it was full to the brim on that evening, so full it could not allow any more water to drain off the roads and that caused the flooding.

"We are now conducting tests to see what alterations can be made so this situation does not occur again."

Coun Jon Bamborough has called a residents' meeting for next Thursday (October 19) when solicitor Tim Fielding, from Barker Booth and Eastwood -- the legal expert behind the Queen Victoria Road residents' compensation claim for flooding -- will discuss possible compensation claims.

Chris Davies, Lib Dem MEP, Joan Humble, Blackpool North MP, Colin South from North West Water and employees from waste water services at Blackpool Council have all been invited.