AN MP has publicly raised the possibility of contractors being brought back to improve drainage on the A66 after it was closed for a second day yesterday.

The main road into Teesside was blocked due to flooding at the Long Newton Junction, near Durham Tees Valley Airport, which was improved at a cost of £12m just four years ago.

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Yesterday, Liberal Democrat MP for Redcar , Ian Swales, used Twitter to highlight the fact the junction was still new and told The Northern Echo that drainage should have been improved.

The tweet read: “Floods closing the A66 look like they’re at the new airport junction. Time to get the contractors back?”

Mr Swales later said he understood safety came first but closing the main road to the industrial centre of Teesside was a cause of concern for the economy.

He said: “They build a new flyover to the airport and the floods are underneath that fly-over. That’s pretty bad. Didn’t they think about drainage at the time?”

The Highways Agency, responsible for the road, did not directly respond to Mr Swales’ points that drainage may have been better provided in the 2007 and 2008 improvement work or whether contractors should be brought back.

However in a prepared statement a spokeswoman for the agency pointed out the high volume of rain that had fallen in the area.

She said: “Work is ongoing to try to reopen the A66 at Long Newton, which was closed after severe flooding caused by unprecedented volume of rain falling over the past 48 hours. This September has been the wettest for 30 years following record-breaking rainfall throughout the summer.

“Highways Agency teams have been working non-stop to try to remove the surface water from the carriageway but have been hampered by water running off saturated fields and roads adjacent to the network.

“Work to fully reopen the A66 will be going on into the evening and into Thursday as necessary.

“While the weather situation is set to improve over the next few days, we will also be keeping a watch on the impact of the heavy rainfall working its way into water courses and drainage system and its potential to cause further flooding.”

The A66 is used by more than 32,000 vehicles a day between Darlington and Stockton.