UNDERGROUND CCTV is to be installed to find out why a historic home has flooded twice in eight months.

Tim and Heidi Woodgett were left homeless in May, after a 12-hour record rainfall caused £50,000 worth of damage to their Grade II-listed home in Ardleigh.

When the couple and their three children moved back to Ancient House, in Colchester Road, in December, floods struck again and destroyed the family’s new kitchen.

Last month Mr Woodgett appealed for help from Tendring District Council, Essex County Council and the Environment Agency to find out what is causing the flooding.

As a result of a meeting, which included representatives all three bodies, the cameras will now be installed in a culvert near the family’s home in a bid to find the cause of the problem.

Peter Halliday, chairman of Tendring District Council, said: “We hope that the CCTV survey can be completed within the next month and during that time we should have carried out the other tasks.

“We are now all pulling in the same direction and I am confident that by working together we can identify a way forward for these properties and the families which live in them.”

Mr Woodgett added: “We are spending money trying to do what we can do to prevent flooding but we are pinning all our hopes on one or all of the bodies coming forward with an understanding of the issue and saying ‘this is what we are going to do about it’.

“In the meantime, with the weather which has been predicted, we are hoping for one central contact we can use if we have an emergency so we are not spending hours arguing about who can help us.

“I fear at the moment, we have not necessarily moved forward.”