David went out to look at the latest flash flooding problems across the Whittington Division during the recent heavy rain. There were issues across the division again, with roads flooded in Hindford, Babbinswood, Boot Street, B5009, North Drive & Twmpath Lane in Park Hall.
David is a Chartered Civil Engineering Surveyor. During his 30-year career as a surveyor, he has been surveying for the National Rivers Authority and the Environment Agency for flood defence schemes and has campaigned on flooding issues throughout this time.
“I am fed up that flooding issues keep popping up and now seem to be stacking up. The issue will only get worse if Shropshire Council doesn’t properly maintain our ditches and drains, and global warming makes previously exceptional events become normal.
“A whole catchment approach needs to be taken to the whole River Severn basin. We need appropriate land management and every development has a part to play in ‘Slowing the flow.’ Runoff hits the drainage and river system far too quickly. Overloading infrastructure and exacerbating downstream flooding. Water needs to be retained for much longer at its source, using leaky dams, rewilding, tree planting, controlled flooding of land where the impact is low, and Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes.”
When David was a County Councillor (2001-05), he heard from experts how ‘slowing the flow’ was the correct approach following other flooding events. Yet here we are, twenty years later, and nothing has been done to adequately address this issue, with hundreds of homes and businesses routinely flooded still.
“Shropshire Council has been very poor at ensuring issues are properly designed out at the planning stage. In the meantime, residents suffer, and the local economy takes another hit.” He concluded.
Note: owing to a technical issue, posts added in November ended up with a future publication date – preventing them from being published. This post was written in November 2023.
As a chartered Civil Engineering Surveyor, I have campaigned for many, many years of flooding issues, and it is very frustrating that Shropshire Council still can’t get the simple things right and properly manage flooding. It is time Shropshire Council pulled their finger out and did what needs to be done to minimise flooding issues.
