ACTION has been demanded over a litter-infested and silted-up urban stream, which residents say is not only a flood risk but also a potential death trap.

People living alongside the Rhyl Cut have spoken out over the increasing amount of rubbish, unchecked soil erosion and the danger posed by the accumulation of dangerous, quicksand-like silt and rising water levels.

Jenny McGregor is one of the people alarmed by the increased rate of erosion.

An embankment adjoining a property she lets in Brynhedydd Road has been so badly eroded, the garden wall has collapsed.

Mrs McGregor said: “The river is full of this slurry made up of silt that has been take from the bank.

“It’s about four-feet deep and has caused the water level to rise so much, sometimes it is only nine inches from the bottom of the bridge.

“The house was built in the 1920s. We’ll be lucky if there is anything left at this rate.”

She added: “It’s not just the garden wall. We have a sewer line in our garden that runs alongside near by the river.

“What if sewage starts pouring into the river? Worst of all, the slurry has a powerful suction like quicksand.

“I dread to think what would happen if a child fell in trying to get one of the many footballs amongst all of the rubbish.

“Is someone going to have to die for someone to do something about this?”

Mrs McGregor says the problem is also severe in Clifton Park Road and Kingsley Avenue and has been exacerbated over the past 18 months by an increased amount of ground water entering the river from the new £25 million Rhyl High School.

While managing the flood risk of the waterway is the responsibility of Natural Resource Wales (NRW), it only has a remit and resources for the annual maintainence of the overgrowth of vegetation.

Its North East Wales operational resource manager, Paula Harley, said: “Our role in managing Rhyl Cut revolves around managing the risk of flooding for local people.”

Removing rubbish, addressing erosion or repairing fences are the responsibility of individual landowners – that is, owners of properties alongside the waterway.

“It would not be a sensible use of taxpayers money for us to allocate scarce resources to deal with matters which are the responsibility of others, “ she said.

“Health and safety concerns on open watercourses are not in our remit.”

However, Cllr Brian Jones, lead member for flood risk management for Denbighshire County Council (DCC), is hopeful that a survey of the river – in co-ordination with the council and Welsh Water – will result in NRW taking control of these issues, once the severity of the risk is fully investigated.

Cllr Jones said: “There are definite problem with the Rhyl Cut and Prestatyn Gutter and have been for many years.

“Last year in July, working with NRW we managed to avoid a major flooding incident because vegetation was removed.

“If the river is a metre and a half higher than it used to be because it hasn’t been maintained, we hope the conclusion of the survey will highlight these problems and then a thorough cleansing of the cut and gutter can be brought under the banner of flood prevention, so something will be done and funding can be made available.”