Burton Bradstock Flood Warden Report

Dec. 2011

 

Flood Warden Seminar (Wed. 2nd November 2011)

 

The day long seminar was mainly concerned with the various ways The Environment Agency collects data, produces flood maps and communicates flood alerts. Three relatively important points emerged from the seminar however.

 

  1. Flood Alerts will now generally be issued between 6am and 9pm to avoid calls to

     Flood Wardens during unsocial hours. Good for local response but has the

     downside that there are likely to be more false alarms as it is more difficult to

     predict exactly where severe weather events will occur so much in advance.

 

  1. Flood Alerts will be communicated to Flood wardens in the first instant but

     volunteers will be required in vulnerable areas of the village to pass-on

     information to neighbours.

 

  1. If and when flooding to any degree occurs it is important to photograph the areas

     affected and to record the local conditions leading up to the flooding. This will

     make it easier to predict future events given similar weather conditions.

 

Burton Bradstock Flood Action Group

 

On Wednesday 16th November I attended a meeting of the Flood Action Group to discuss where we go from here following the report commissioned by the Environment Agency on the preferred option for eliminating the flood risk due to run-off from North Hill.

 

We understand that Burton Bradstock is well down the priority list for funding for this prevention work but feel that it is important to maintain a high profile so that it is not forgotten. In this respect I would recommend the following actions.

 

  1. The Parish Council invite Ben Murray (head of infrastructure) of WDDC to attend a PC meeting in February or March 2012 to explain the current position

 

  1. The Parish Council keeps pressure on WDDC, as necessary, to maintain the existing drainage through Shadrack, Middle Street and Grove Road.

 

  1. That a solution to this problem is included in the Parish Plan and that it is recorded as an important issue for inclusion in the WDDC Local Plan.

 

Grove Road flood water run-off

 

The triangle of grass next to the river in Grove Road is becoming overgrown which, in heavy rain, collects debris creating a ÔdamÕ preventing surface water from flowing into the river. I understand that this area of grass belongs to the Rookery and believe the PC should write to the owners reminding them of their responsibility to maintain the area.

 

Keith Delves

Flood Warden