There aren’t enough staff to clear a blocked flood protection drain cleared any more quickly, a senior councillor has admitted.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead calling on it to block the Wraysbury Drain following flooding this year.

This 200-year-old watercourse, running from near Wraysbury Train Station to the Thames in Hyde End, has been blocked for four years by debris, roots and gravel. Councillor Ewan Larcombe – who launched the petition – said the council had been slow to take action.

He said: “I shouldn’t have had to raise this petition but I did – and it got 1,300 signatures and I’m back here yet again talking about flooding and talking about things that haven’t been done over in Wraysbury. Wraysbury is only 10 miles away – but it could be 10,000 miles.”

Councillor Larcombe presented his petition to a full council meeting on Wednesday, July 17.

Councillor Richard Coe replied that the council had ‘made progress', including by encouraging private land owners to unblock sections of the watercourse flowing through their land.

But he said staffing issues had slowed progress. He said: “There is a resource led problem in that we don’t have enough officers to pursue the work which is why the work on Feathers Lane won’t start until later in the year when that officer has more capacity.

“I feel hopeful that we are going to see water flowing through the Wraysbury Channel hopefully before the end of this council term but preferably soon.”