RUBERY residents who have suffered the misery of having their homes flooded five times in as many years have been given a glimmer of hope that the problem may at last be solved.

After years of wrangling about responsibility for the floods, Worcestershire County Council had agreed to pay £85,000 towards remedial work on a culvert beneath Callowbrook Lane.

But residents say the culvert is not the cause of the trouble.

Steve Mann, whose home has been flooded five times, said the problem was the brook, which was full of rubbish and badly silted up.

News that the county council had agreed to foot the bill rekindled the long-standing row between Tory and Labour members for the area on Bromsgrove District Council over which authority is responsible.

Cllr David Hancox (Con, Uffdown and Waseley) said: "After avoiding the issue for more than two-and-a-half years, causing misery and havoc to the lives of Rubery people, the county council has finally admitted full responsibility."

Peter McDonald, who represents the same ward for Labour on the district council and Rubery on the county authority, said: "I called in the county in sheer desperation when the district council turned its back on the problem and the plight of residents.

"The problem is the brook which runs through land owned by the district council and to my knowledge has not been cleaned out or maintained in 40 years."