Building work at the lower school site of Borehamwood's new secondary school has put homes at risk of flooding, according to a borough councillor.

Councillor Martin Heywood called for measures to be taken, after six properties, opposite the Cowley Hill school site, flooded after a recent heavy storm.

Mr Heywood called for sandbags, from Hertsmere Borough Council, to help one Cowley Hill house, and a Hartforde Road resident likened his street to the River Ganges, during the worst flooding for 35 years.

The Cowley Hill ward councillor believes a make-shift, rubble-covered parking area, created in a field next to the school for builders' vehicles, does not absorb excess rain water as effectively as the grass did.

The gardens and patios of five homes in Cowley Hill, and one in Hartforde Road, were flooded in a foot of water, at around 5.30pm on April 26, after the storm followed all-day rain.

According to residents, the flooding was the worst since the 1960s, as rain water gushed across Cowley Hill and down a grass bank to their houses.

Don Hall, 54, of Hartforde Road, said: "It went as far as the shops on Hartforde Road this whole road was like the Ganges."

Mr Hall suggested the flooding could be stopped by concreting, or cleaning more regularly, the drainage ditch running alongside Cowley Hill.

Mr Heywood said, under the terms of planning permission for the building work, school site owner Hertfordshire County Council had to make sure the field was returned to normal when it was no longer needed.

He added: "I want to see that all cleared and returned to proper Green Belt - it is inappropriate use of the Green Belt."

A county council spokesman said: "Our property consultant has told us that the builder has done this but, if evidence comes from anyone that this has not happened, we will have to look into it."

A borough council drainage services spokesman, who agreed that rubble would increase water run-off from the field, added: "We are progressing discussions with Hertfordshire County Council to find a solution."

The spokesman said the council planned to improve drainage in the Cowley Hill area. The work, expected to start in the last week of July and take six weeks, is set to involve clearing the over-grown ditches, some of which have become blocked with silt and grass cuttings, as well as creating a tunnel-drain, or culvert, across the road to ease drainage.