A WORRIED Bournemouth councillor has called for an emergency meeting to discuss flash floods which bought parts of the borough to a standstill on Friday.

Freak weather conditions led to chaos on the roads, the Bourne Stream burst its banks and shops and offices were flooded.

Now Cllr Roger West has written to fellow councillor Basil Ratcliffe in a bid to have a special meeting called of the Scrutiny Panel for the Environment.

He is urging Cllr Ratcliffe, chairman of the panel, to find out if anything can be done to prevent a repeat of Friday's floods.

He hopes issues such as street cleaning and drainage systems, and their possible impact on Friday's flooding, can be discussed.

"Residents and traders need answers as both our council tax and water bills are very high - our drainage system should be resilient enough to cope with these events," he said.

"Is it reasonable for our residents to have to suffer in this way - or was it such a freak event that no amount of improved maintenance and infrastructure would have coped with it?"

It is estimated that more than half of September's average annual rainfall came in a two-hour deluge on Friday afternoon.

The Wessex Way was temporarily closed, shops were forced to close their doors and Bournemouth's gardens resembled a lake.

Tony Williams, Bournemouth Borough Council's director for environment and economic services, said: "Flooding is a growing concern to many towns and cities across the country and we recognise the impact it can have on homes and businesses.

"As a result, we work very closely with Wessex Water to identify and target flooding hotspots and adopt an integrated approach to flood management.

"We have a dedicated team which cleans and maintains the network of highway gullies on a regular basis. However, even when drainage systems are regularly cleaned and well maintained, flooding can occur at times of intense rainfall."