AN elderly couple faced with increasingly bad flooding in their garden in Caister fears their home could eventually be wrecked.Jim and Brenda Brown were the first residents to move into Orchard Close in 1969, and have put up with minor flooding for years.

AN elderly couple faced with increasingly bad flooding in their garden in Caister fears their home could eventually be wrecked.

Jim and Brenda Brown were the first residents to move into Orchard Close in 1969, and have put up with minor flooding for years.

However, prompted by a recent heavy downpour two weeks ago, water levels rose to unprecedented levels, lapping at the brickwork of the house and covering the garden.

Water also seeped into Mr Brown's shed, causing damage both to the structure itself and equipment.

Mr Brown, 79, said: “That shed cost me �1,600 to get it all done and at the moment it is being ruined because of what's happened.”

He added that an overgrown pathway between his property and Lacon Road was the main cause of the problem, which resulted in three or four floods to their garden a year, because of a natural dip in the land there.

The damage to his shed prompted him to get in contact with the parish council, followed by Anglian Water and finally the borough council, but so far he said, he had been unable to get anything done.

“As far as I understand it the pathway is owned by the residents at Lacon Road and it could do with a run-off being dug, but I don't want to get in any arguments with anyone. It should be done officially.

“Everyone I have talked to has passed the responsibility on and I don't know who to go to next to make something happen. I just don't want it to come to the point where it's coming into our house.”

Several residents along Lacon Road have also had issues with flooding, but one homeowner said they would rather leave the pathway because it put off potential burglars.

Environmental health officer Richard Alger, who said he was unaware of the longer term issues faced by the Browns, visited the two roads following recent flooding, last week.

He said: “It's surface water that caused the latest flooding because the water table is so high at the moment and climate conditions over the last couple of years have led to this.

“We've talked to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water but we don't have the legislative powers to deal with this - it's a private issue.”