Madam, As I trudged up the A40 heading out of the centre of Lea and towards the church in heavy rain last Sunday, I encountered what has become an all-too-familiar sight all over Herefordshire; streams of water flowing around surface water drains blocked by leaves, twigs and old tin cans and gurgling around gutters clogged by a flourishing crop of weeds. I don't know when a road sweeper last visited this stretch of the A40 but I'm willing to bet that it was quite sometime ago. It's not the first time I've highlighted this problem, and I've a nasty feeling that I'll be highlighting it again next year and the year after that and the year after that. By that time of course it may not matter. If the 119 new houses proposed for Lea are built then we'll all be under several feet of water anyway; and Noah and the Ark will be of rather more use to us than drains or gutters. Steve Banner, Lea