Parish members across Castle Morpeth have complained that more effort is needed to sweep their streets to avoid blocked drains and flooding.

Longhirst councillor Ian Thompson said: "The last time Longhirst village was swept I can't remember. I honestly can't remember and I walk the street at least three to four times a day.

"They will sweep around Longhirst Hall and will go past the church, but they won't do the village. That leads to other problems and great cost later on because we have gullies that are blocked.

"All the debris from the lilac and laburnum blocks the gullies very quickly. The top one gets blocked, the middle one gets blocked and the bottom one gets blocked and there is water running two-feet onto the road in places. You can't walk on the path because of the water there.

"Last year they had to clean nine gullies out of 11. If they did it on a rota like they said they would we wouldn't have this problem."

Other members complained of similar problems in Widdrington Station and Pegswood, but were told the road sweeping equipment is unable to tackle streets without a kerb.

However, Coun Peter Angus said other methods should be used.

"There is no practical difficulty — you just put men on the street to do the work. You could use a brush," he said.

Castle Morpeth Council Chief Executive Ken Dunbar said it was a question of funding and that on-street parking also caused cleaning difficulties, while Council Leader Peter Jackson said more resources had been allocated for the work.

"Street sweeping is something that we have been going to improve as a Borough over the years," he said.

"There is a rota and we will be able to tell you when a sweeper was last in your area.

"We have realised this is a problem and we have invested in an extra street sweeper this year so we now have extra capacity.

"Our policy is to sweep every road with a kerb four times a year."

Members were told that Northumberland County Council operates a policy to clean all gullies once a year on a rota system, but officers will also respond to specific areas of concern on an ad hoc basis.