Questions, concerns. comments and ideas

Posted & filed under Blog.

The following is a summarised collection of

  • feedback you have kindly submitted via the Southwell Flood Forum questionnaire
  • some emails sent directly to us
  • phone calls and face-to-face conversations
  • investigations by Forum members

All this information is immensely helpful as it is your ‘grass-roots’ experience that tells us what actually happened to people and properties on 23rd July 2013 or at other times.

We hope that it reflects your concerns, questions, comments and ideas.

If you would like to add any other information that you think hasn’t quite been covered in the summary, we would like to hear, initially by 26th September, when we will be feeding back to County Council our comments on the brief for the Flood Modelling Survey which they have commissioned. Please send your comments via the form at the bottom of this page.

After that we will continue to gather your responses which will continue to build the valuable database of information.

As at 22.9.13 – 179 forms returned.
Flood statistics (“reported” or “observed but not confirmed”):
226 houses , 77 garages , 19 businesses, 55 ‘near-misses’.

Roads affected by flooding

Appletree Close, Archers Field, Bramley Close, Brook close, Caudwell Close, Chimes Meadow, Church Street, Crafts Way, Crew Lane Close, Dornoch Avenue, Dudley Doy Road, Dunham Close, Easthorpe, Fern Close, Glenfields, Greet Park Close, Halam Road, Halloughton Road, Harvey’s Field, Humberstone Road, King Street, Kirkby Close, Kirklington Road, Leeway Road, Lower Kirklington Road, Marrison Way, Merryweather Close, Nottingham Road, Palace view, Pinewood Close, Potwell Close, Raysmith Close, The Ridgeway, The Ropewalk, Silvey Avenue, Springfield Road, Stenton Close, Station Road, Tathams Orchard, Templeman’s Way, Upton Road, Vicar’s Court, Wands Close, Westgate, Westhorpe, Woodland Drive

Maintenance

  • Which drains were blocked?
  • Which pipes were blocked?
  • Are the pumping stations working effectively?
  • What are the function of the pumping stations in the area, sewage or top water particular reference to Crafts Way
  • Needs a cohesive approach by authorities/agencies
  • Denial by authorities of their responsibilities
  • Clear drainholes/gullies regularly – a schedule in advance so people can move their cars
  • Have ALL the drains and gullies been cleaned out since the event on 23rd July?
  • Clear, dig out and maintain watercourses
  • In 2007 we wanted to clear Potwell Dyke but authorities told us we couldn’t because of voles. Not helpful to maintain our obligations.
  • Can Potwell Dyke be ‘adopted’?

Infrastructure

  • Does surface water from Halam Road effectively drain into Starkey’s balancing pond, how do they know this?
  • Where do the culverts run and who maintains them ?
  • Will the work being done on drainage at junction of Leeway/Lower Kirklington Road improve the situation?
  • Do we have all current maps of culverts, sewer pipes, combined pipes?
  • Where do the surface water pipes come from that run into the Dumbles at the bottom of the Ropewalk.
  • Moratorium on further housing development until Flood Risk Assessments are reviewed
  • How can we be sure Flood Risk Assessments for planned developments are robust and sensible? Do they take into account the poor infrastructure that a development will connect into and not just look at the development in isolation
  • Did the raising of the new Minster playing fields affect recent flooding?
  • Are the drains sufficient? They were bubbling up.
  • French drains?
  • No kerbstones/pathways allowed water to come freely into property
  • A ban on walls on the banks of the watercourses – waterlogged soil disturbs foundations, which can potentially weaken the wall which blocks the watercourse.

Contributing causes to flooding

  •  What are the critical ‘pinch points’ along the watercourses?
    • Potwell Dyke exit to Greet
    • Church Street Bridge
    • Bishops Drive/Playing Fields Bridge
    • Minster culvert Park Lane ditch to Park Lodge
    • Minster School culvert Potwell Dyke to T point under school drive
    • Nottingham Road culvert – Springfield Dumble to park Lodge ditch
    • Halam, Allenby junction Road pinch points This pipe is always blocked and the junction regularly floods
    • Halam road & Cookes Lane junction
    • Halam Hill, culvert goes underground
    • Halam Hill poorly constructed water inlets from the road does not force the water into the water course at the side of the road due inadequate “fall”
    • Starkey balancing pond outlet
    • Humberstone Road secondary hold area (Century Park) is too small.
    • Kirklington Raod, Vineries, bypass junction ( still blocked )
    • Culvert from Glenfields which runs down Woodland Drive to Leeway Road, is only 450mm. This carries all the surface water from the Halam Hill AND all the lower estates It is regularly overwhelmed with many “near misses” over the year.
    • The above pipe lacks adequate “fall” to allow water to run to the River Greet quickly and so get away
    • Road gullies and surface water pipes that connect into Glenfields culvert do so in the bottom side of the pipe. This also reduces its capacity and thus its capability to carry water, adding to surface water problems
    • Surface water runoff from Lowes Wong Hill
  • Why is water backing up from Southwell trail/The Dumbles – Archer’s Field flooding?
  • Did Starkey’s polytunnels contribute to the flooding?
  • Did Starkey’s balancing pond overflow?
  • What contribution to flooding this July came from peak intensity of rain?
  • Would any measures have helped prevent the impact of flooding this time given the intensity?
  • Cars continuing to drive through floodwaters
  • Roads weren’t closed by police in time.

History

What other flooding incidents (including dates) have you experienced?

  • 29th February 1977
  • 1992
  • 11th June 1993
  • 25th January 1995
  • 25th June 2007 – Major flood
  • 9th Nov 2008 – 2 houses on Easthorpe
  • 2008 – 3 incidents of flooding in a house on Easthorpe
  • 2010
  • Nov/Dec 2012

Is flooding happening more frequently?

Flood protection

  • Advice on individual house level protection.
  • What help can I get towards protecting my house?
  • Is it possible to pump out water in order to protect a house?
  • What kind of protection can be used on listed properties or those with a covenant?
  • How will I know what will protect me – Flood barriers, Airbrick covers, Sandbags, Aqua Sacs
  • Non return Valves on drains both foul and top water
  • If I deflect water from my property am I making matters worse somewhere else?
  • Where can we get sand bags, Aqua Sacs from?
  • Can the Council provide sandbags at more convenient locations?
  • Protection needs to be a community issue as well as individual householder
  • How can we have a town-wide early warning system of potential flooding?
  • It all happened too quickly to protect our property
  • What happens if I’m not at home when it happens?
  • How can I prepare for flooding?
  • What can I do during the floods?
  • What’s the best way towards recovery after flooding?
  • What’s the best way to clean up afterwards?
  • How do I clean sewage out of my garden?
  • Closing roads

Suggested alleviation schemes

  • New building developments to contribute more money to improving ALL the infrastructure via a levy imposed by the EA and NCC
  • ANY new major development should not be allowed to connect into the existing water courses or foul water. They must directly connect to the Greet or a relevant pumping stations.
  • The current method of allowing designers to install oversized pipes has been proved not to work in both 2007 and 2013.
  • Bishops Drive playing fields:- lower the football pitches and create “bunds” to allow the area to flood in extreme events
  • Collection of water upstream – attenuation areas.
  • Can the direction of ploughing affect the speed of run-off?
  • Has removing hedges to make larger ploughable areas made run-off faster?
  • Lower the northern kerb on Halam Road west of Allenby Road plus speed ramp to divert the surface water into the balancing pond when it runs down Halam Hill
  • Additional pipes and gullies on Halam Hill road to “catch” more and divert into the balancing pond
  • Thorough investigation of drainage system and its effectiveness
  • Widen/heighten bridges, straighten particularly bendy stretches of the Dyke
  • What are householders’ responsibilities?
  • What’s the situation about householders putting hardstanding in place of garden/lawn? It reduces run-off.
  • Any alleviation schemes need take into account future weather – climate is changing
  • Harvey’s Field – Bund proposed – would it have helped?
  • Bund in playing field behind old Minster School
  • Deepening church st bridge
  • Smoothing Halloughton Road culvert
  • Farmland holding ponds at strategic places
  • Increase Starkey’s balancing pond capacity
  • Change Starkey’s outlet flow rate
  • Change Starkey’s outlet height
  • Bypass drain – Norwood to Vineries
  • Connect 2 pump stations – Crafts Way and Archers Field

Comments

  • This was a very serious flood – lives were at risk – health can be affected – next time it could be even more dangerous – e.g. if it was during school-term time.
  • Insurance – difficult to renew/obtain
  • Insurance companies ‘moving the goalposts’, not honouring claims
  • Support – drop-in centre for residents
  • Southwell’s ‘image’ – business, tourism, etc – It’s affected the whole town
  • House prices – it’s peoples’ investment at stake
  • Effect of future developments on Southwell’s Flood Risk
  • How do we report perceived/potential flooding issues and actual flooding incidents?
  • Who can we contact for advice when we realise flooding is happening?
  • Can we identify the most vulnerable people in areas at risk of flooding so they can be helped in an emergency?
  • What action is being taken? Is pressure being put on Authorities?
  • We need some URGENT action – we are UNPROTECTED – what can be done to reduce our IMMEDIATE vulnerability?
  • People shouldn’t dump rubbish or garden waste in watercourses.
  • Disappointed in apparent lack of true concern by local authorities – we don’t want a repeat of the inaction after 2007.
  • Don’t underestimate the long-term effect of flooding on those affected.
  • It was frightening to experience a ‘near-miss’ – we felt helpless
  • Well done Southwell Flood Forum!
  • Southwell has a wonderful community which pulled together fantastically in the recent events.
  • Council didn’t provide enough skips or time for damaged property to be disposed of.

Your Comments

If you would like to add any other information that you think hasn’t quite been covered in the summary, please let us know using the form below: