Community care for roadside drains.
There is a drain outside your house and you have probably never looked at it. Most of what stops one working is leaves and litter on top of the grating: a minute's work, on the way past.
If a few people on your street each keep an eye on the one nearest them, the street stays clear.
How it works
Adopt one
Pick a drain you pass anyway. Watching it from a window counts.
Check it
A minute at the kerb, about once a month, and more often when the leaves are coming down. Three taps and a photo, standing on the pavement.
Report the rest
Anything below the grating is the council's job. We hand it over.
What this is not
This is not a replacement for the council.
The boundary is easy to hold in your head: leaves and litter on top of the grating are yours, if you want them. Anything below the grating — silt in the pot, a cracked or sunken frame, standing water that will not drain — is a job for the council, and we hand it straight over.
Nobody lifts a grating. Nobody steps into the carriageway.