Southwell flood allevaition work still in planning phase as 10th anniversary of floods approaches
Almost a decade since severe flooding left a trail of destruction in a town, work has yet to begin on a flood alleviation bund.
Long-awaited plans for a flood bund across Potwell Dyke, Southwell, were submitted by Nottinghamshire County Council and welcomed by Southwell Town Council in early 2022. Funding was secured for the project, and other flood allevaition works in the town, in 2018.
The Environment Agency lodged a holding objection due to missing information in the application, for land off Church Street.
At a meeting of Southwell Town Council, Paul Handley raised concerns over delays in the flood alleviation work, and claimed residents affected by the 2013 flood — which caused £9m of damage to 200 homes and businesses when three inches of rain fell in an hour — needed to know progress was being made.
He said: “We’re coming up to the 10th anniversary of the flooding. The community deserves to know when the end date for this work will be.”
The floods left some residents unable to return to their homes for many months and some for up to a year.
Potwell Dyke again burst its banks in June 2019.
The key phase of the £5m flood alleviation scheme to protect 100 homes and businesses across Southwell from the risk of flooding is currently progressing through the planning and detailed design process.
The bund is proposed to store surface water at Potwell Dyke, to protect homes and businesses from flooding by holding back water during times of exceptionally high flow.
Water will be released from the storage area in a controlled manner once flow levels downstream have subsided.
Gary Wood, head of highways and transport at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "Initial consultation on the proposals resulted in the need for further specialised ground investigation and hydraulic modelling to support the ongoing technical design of the bund.
“This will involve sonic drilling to help further inform the design of the bund below ground level as we need to know whether there are any voids within the land’s structure that could compromise the effectiveness of the bund. These works, programmed to start in May, will provide essential design considerations for the bund which is planned for delivery in Summer 2024.
“All the additional information required for the planning application has been formally lodged with the planning authority for information and we are currently waiting for their response.
“May will also see us start the second phase of works on the surface water storage area at Halam Hill, which will include the creation of additional bunding as well as the installation of new hydro brakes to hold water back and control flow in the catchment. Plus, we will also be starting the next phase of bespoke property flood resilience measures to a number of properties across the catchment area.”
