Memorandum submitted by Eastington Parish
Council (FL 75)
1. Considering that the majority of houses
in Eastington are on high ground and away from the rivers, it
was quite surprising that so many flooded during the heavy rain
of July 20th. We know that two houses close to the River Frome
flooded, and believe that at least a further thirteen succumbed
due to overflowing sewers or blocked ditches. Several properties
were saved only by exceptionally hard work and many others had
flooded outbuildings, garages and gardens. It is believed that
almost all of the flooding could have been prevented by appropriate
maintenance of drains, ditches and the main sewerage system. It
is also likely that the remaining flooding could have been prevented
by appropriate flood defences (sand bags etc.). The Parish Council
welcome the advice and access to such defensive measure as offered
by the County Council or any other agency.
2. Since no single authority has an overview
of the flooding problems in Eastington, the Parish Council, together
with local volunteers, is undertaking a survey. This should give
a more accurate view of what happened during the heavy rain. It
is planned to use this information to persuade the relevant parties
to attend to any necessary improvements, and to develop a plan
to significantly reduce the risk of Village houses flooding in
future.
3. It has proved very difficult to get an
accurate picture of the extent of flooding and it is believed
that the stigma associated with flooding is the main reason. Impact
on insurance premiums and the negative impact when selling a house
seem to be the reasons for not volunteering information. There
is concern that the problem may have been significantly worse
than initially reported and it is hoped that our survey may clarify
the situation.
4. While it seems there were no severe hardship
cases in Eastington, most of those affected are still waiting
for insurance companies to agree commencement of remedial actions.
Significant stress and frustration is being reported verbally
to us by parishioners. (This is in contrast to some un-insured
households in worse affected areas of the County, which have received
money from local funds in order to begin repairs.)
5. Eastington has had a problem with an
inadequate sewerage system for several decades. The sewage has
to be pumped up hill to the main Stroud treatment works. It has
proved extremely difficult for the Parish Council to get appropriate
action from Severn Trent, or to even define the problem. We are
still a long way from remedial action. Breakdown of sewage pumps,
power-cuts and heavy rain have lead to many other occasions when
properties have been flooded with sewage-contaminated water. The
resources of our Parish Council are inadequate to continually
pursue Severn Trent to take appropriate action. (We have a part-time
clerk and volunteer councillors to cover all the escalating Parish
issues.) A great deal of Parish Council time is spent pursuing
various authorities for either not delivering on promises, or
for poor standard of work. Some assistance in these processes
would be greatly appreciated.
6. Several planning applications have been
granted thus allowing significant increases in sewage to our already
overloaded system. One of these was for large volumes of wastewater
to be pumped into our system from a landfill site in a neighbouring
parish. We are told that there are no planning reasons to delay
planning permissions until our sewer system is upgraded. It would
help to have planning reasons for encouraging remedial actions
to drainage and sewerage systems.
7. It seems that permission is not required
for removal of hedgerows. We have examples where removal of hedges,
and particularly the raised mound upon which these grew, has allowed
surface water to run off land directly into a neighbouring property.
Some restriction on removal of hedgerows would be welcomed.
8. The top surface of roads in our Parish
has risen over the years following successive laying of tarmac.
Kerbstones of 40 years ago, in some locations, are now level with
road surfaces. Many houses are now significantly lower than the
road surface and there are no kerbs to stop storm water running
into properties. Wider use of the much publicized on-site recycling
of worn out road surfaces, would help reduce quarrying for fresh
stone and keep road surfaces at original levels. Where this is
not appropriate, it would be good to have additional road profiling
or kerbing, to protect properties from excess surface water.
9. Modern methods of hedge cutting result
in an abundance of macerated hedge being sprayed over roads and
ditches. No one ever cleans this up and it is left to accumulate
in drainage ditches. Legislation to enforce landowners to collect
hedge and grass cuttings, would significantly reduce this problem.
10. There are but a few properties where
ditches are regularly dug and maintained but most have been abandoned
for several decades. Water frequently runs over the road surfaces.
A few ditches that have been dug out in the past 5 years have
become choked with vegetation. Some form of incentive is believed
necessary to encourage maintenance of ditches and grips.
11. The increase in wider and wider farm
vehicles and increased ownership of 4x4 vehicles has lead to damage
to the few maintained ditches, especially in single-track lanes.
Such vehicles are often seen squeezing past each other in narrow
lanes instead of waiting at a passing point. Hours of work spent
cleaning ditches are undone in seconds by such vehicles driving
over verges. While there are some measures to control speed of
vehicles, it would help to have some measures to protect verges
in narrow lanes, and to address the hazards encountered by pedestrians
due to inconsiderate driving of wide vehicles.
Eastington Parish Council
Stonehouse
August 2007
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