CHILDREN were carried by wheelbarrow across the flooded yard at Hayswood Farm to the Madresfield Pre-School Centre on Monday.

Water was draining off the road into the farmyard in one place and bubbling up from the sewers in another, said owner Alice Bennett.

"It is 6ins deep in some places and much deeper in others. You can't get across without your wellies," she said.

Mrs Bennett said heavy rain had never caused flooding in the past, but had become a problem in the past two years.

"We've got a sump to drain off surplus water because it used to be a dairy, but it has got absolutely out of control since the development of the trading estate around Safeways," she said.

"The whole of our village is suffering as a legacy of that development. There's a terrible back-up of water that's filling our drains and pushing sewage up. It's a desperate health hazard."

Highways partnership manager Mike Davis said: "It was essentially a land drainage problem but the flood water was getting into the foul drain.

"We pumped it out on Monday afternoon and informed Severn Trent, who were going to take a look on Tuesday morning.

"We have previously discussed the flooding problem with the Environment Agency and they agreed to carry out work to reduce the problem. Perhaps we need to have a further meeting," he said.