Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, In The Press, Potwell Dyke Flood Group.

Flood project paused over heritage impact fears – Greig Watson, BBC News, East Midlands, Published, 30 August 2025


The new flood barrier would have to be 60m (197ft) longer than originally planned

A question mark has been put over the future of a flood defence scheme in Nottinghamshire due to its potential impact on an archaeological area.
The county council’s plans to build a 250m (820ft) embankment, known as a bund, across parkland at Potwell Dyke near Southwell Minster, were approved in January.
But the authority has now said the bund, to be effective, would have to be 60m (197ft) longer, which could affect nearby Roman remains.
Officials said they were consulting with Historic England to understand whether the larger design was likely to get new planning consent, but they would “explore alternatives to the scheme if it cannot go ahead in the revised form”.

Nottingham Road, near the town’s leisure centre, flooded in October 2023
The scheme is designed to protect 36 properties and reduce the risk to more by holding back water from Potwell Dyke and allowing it to be released slowly.
Southwell suffers regular flooding, most notably in 2013 when 300 properties were affected, the council added.
The Potwell Dyke area contains remains of Roman structures, possibly associated with the nearby villa.
The new design would also be taller than the original 2.5m (8.2ft) and mean the closure of a popular local footpath, the authority confirmed.
A spokesman for the council said: “The Potwell Dyke scheme is one of a number of flooding measures which make up the Southwell Flood Alleviation Scheme, and the county council will continue to work closely with local partners to explore alternatives to the scheme if it cannot go ahead in the revised form.”

Environment Agency – National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, In The Press, National Flood Resilience Review.

The new report is here Due to significant improvements in the Environment Agency’s data, modelling and use of technology, statistics show a 43% increase on the Environment Agency’s previous assessment for areas at risk of flooding from surface water. The report states that around 4.6 million properties are in areas at risk of flooding from… Read more »

Bramley – October 2024 – Nottinghamshire County Council wins award

Posted & filed under Bramley Newspaper, Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flooding News, In The Press.

Flooding Volunteer Scheme wins National Award The Community Flood Signage Scheme, operated by Nottinghamshire County Council, has been honoured with the prestigious Flood and Coast Excellence Award in the Community Action category.Launched in 2011, the scheme now boasts over 485 registered volunteer flood signage wardens who play a crucial role in closing roads susceptible to… Read more »

Bramley – October 2023 news update – Road Closure Scheme

Posted & filed under Bramley Newspaper, Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flooding News, In The Press.

The community road closure scheme here in Southwell has been running since 2015 and currently has 60 trained Road Closure Wardens. These wonderful volunteers respond whenever heavy rainfall threatens to cause dangerous local flooding. Training enables volunteers to close certain roads, at particular points, to stop cars driving through flood-water when specific depths are reached…. Read more »

Bramley news – Potwell mitigation, TV appearance

Posted & filed under Bramley Newspaper, Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, In The Press, Natural Flood Management.

Update on Potwell Dyke alleviation. Recently we were invited to an online catch-up recently with VIA on the Potwell Dyke alleviation scheme. The outstanding three ‘holding objections’ about the project have been addressed by VIA and the interested bodies meaning the planning application will now be going to committee in January. There will be some… Read more »

Authorities explain action taken after storms winter 2023/4

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, In The Press.

Article in Newark Advertiser 31st October 2024 Nottinghamshire County Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council and the Environment Agency explain what has been done since widespread floods of Winter 2023/2024 caused by Storm Babet, Storm Ciaran, and Storm Henk. By Fionn Burrows – f.burrows@iliffepublishing.co.uk   One year on from the devastating floods of last Winter,… Read more »

Resident raises concerns of drains blocked by dog poo bags

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flooding News, In The Press.

Article in Newark Advertiser – 23rd September 2024 Concerns over flooding and community spirit were raised as residents continued to throw dog poo bags into drains after 50 bags were removed. A resident of Bramley Close, Southwell, who doesn’t want to be named, reported a blocked drain to the local authorities in July this year,… Read more »

Bramley news – Goodbye to core members

Posted & filed under Bramley Newspaper, Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, Fundraising, In The Press.

Recently Southwell Flood forum has said goodbye to 3 founding core members. Rob Jordan was our first Joint Chair and worked tirelessly to steer the Forum and help lobby authorities to get mitigation measures designed and funded. John Cook similarly worked alongside Rob and helped raise funds for the community contribution to those measures. Dave… Read more »

Bramley – Storm Babet

Posted & filed under Bramley Newspaper, Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flood Mitigation, Flooding News, In The Press.

Storm Babet’s impact on 20th October resulted sadly in 8 houses in Southwell and others in neighbouring villages, most notably Lowdham, being flooded plus heavy surface water flooding on roads. Our thoughts are with those affected as they recover from the trauma – please contact us if you need any help or signposting to help… Read more »