Memorandum submitted by Clanfield Parish
Council (FL 67)
1.1 MANAGEMENT
SUMMARY
Clanfield was flooded on Friday 20th July 2007,
the floods lasted for approximately 6 days, the flood was caused
by the run off water of the area, and the inability of the local
brooks to accommodate that water, and we were not flooded by the
Thames River.
This document covers what is believed to be
the causes of the flood, the effect of the flood, the issues that
the flood raised, ie, road closures, sand bags, river/brook clearance,
local development impact, responsibilities and the responses from
the relevant authorities.
The Parish Council are quite confident in saying
that the cause of the flood was the inability of the local brooks
to accommodate the amount of water that fell in the relatively
short period, this was compounded by the lack of maintenance by
the Environment Agency over years, and their persistent response
of off loading their responsibilities to land owners.
1.2 CAUSE OF
THE FLOOD
OF CLANFIELD
The cause as mentioned above was the land run
off caused by the 5.5 inches of rain that fell over about 12 hours
in and around the area of Clanfield, and the inability of the
local brooks handling that flow.
Clanfield is within 3 miles of Brize Norton
RAF airfield, and Carterton town, both of which have seen significant
development over the past few years. This development has increased
significantly the amount of rain run off, and although facilities
have been built in to hold water, no actions have been taken to
ensure the brooks and stream with in the area are kept clear and
are adequate to remove the water without flooding.
Clanfield repeatedly over the past few years
have referred planning matters to the Environment Agency, who
have accepted the plans being submitted, but made no effort outside
the developments to ensure flood water can be cleared.
We have two specific brooks in the area The
Clanfield Brook and the Blackbourton brook, the former is cleared
once a year by the EA, however is was choked with weeds on 20
July 2007, the latter was cleared regularly by the EA up until
four years ago.
1.3 THE EFFECT
The PC performed a survey on the whole village
to identify who and what was flooded, when and by how much, we
distributed 350 forms, to date we have received 155 returns, form
which the initial analysis reveals that 60 properties were flooded,
of which 55 included the habital area of the property. These properties
were flooded between 0.5 inch up to 12 inches, the effect on the
occupants being one of devastation, and not being able to get
back to a "normal" life for six months.
1.4 ISSUES RAISED
1.4.1 Road Closures
The road in Clanfield became impassable to normal
cars within an hour of the banks of the brooks being breached,
however following many requests to close the entrances to the
village to all traffic fell on deaf years, and the village suffered
repeatedly of 4x4 vehicles travelling through the village causing
a bow wave which forced water into road side properties.
1.4.2 Sand Bags
When it became apparent that the village was
under threat of flooding, 4pm on Friday 20th July, requests to
the West Oxfordshire District Council fell on deaf years, and
very few bags arrive before Sunday evening. WODC's recent response
is that it is not their policy to supply Sand bags, so whose is
it?
1.4.3 River/Brook clearance
As mentioned above the effect of the flooding
was made worse by the lack of Regular maintenance to the brooks
in the vicinity of the village, these include the Clanfield brook,
the Black Bourton brook, and the Charney brook.
We need to ensure that in the future these waterways
are maintained to a suitable width and depth and kept clear at
all times. A single agency needs to be responsible for this and
funded accordingly.
1.4.4 Local development
Over the past few years we have seen significant
development both at Caterton, in the form of 1000 houses being
built, and at RAF Brize Norton, where recently a new hanger has
been constructed, and the installation of 18 Hercules concrete
standings are about to be laid, this amounts to concreting the
equivalent of 14 football pitches.
This sort of development must be supported with
suitable flood drainage, not just on the sites but in the surrounding
area impacted in between the site and the Thames River.
1.4.5 Responsibilities
The responsibility of the maintenance of rivers
and brooks should fall to one agency, no matter if the water flows
across private or public land, this agency should have the authority
to go on to private land and clear blocked or poorly maintained
ditches/brooks and rivers, They must not use conservation, or
lack of funds as excuses, the repair bill for Clanfield alone
amounts to approximately £2 million.
Clanfield Parish Council
August 2007
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