Meeting documents

The Committee will be hearing from representatives from three communities which were impacted by flooding during the Winter of 2013-14. This will be an opportunity for residents to share their experiences with Members and to highlight any particular challenges they faced during the flooding and afterwards.

Hughenden Valley (Wycombe District Council)

Residents from Hughenden Valley will be in attendance.  David Carroll, County Councillor for Ridgeway East is Chairman of the TEC Select Committee.

Marlow (Wycombe District Council)

Richard Scott, County Councillor, District Councillor and Town Councillor for Marlow, and residents from Marlow will be in attendance.

The Willows, Aylesbury (Aylesbury Vale District Council)

Steven Lambert, County Councillor for Aylesbury West, District Councillor and Parish Councillor for Coldharbour and residents from The Willows will be in attendance. 

Papers

Location Maps showing roads in Hughenden Valley, Marlow and The Willows which were flooded in 2013-14

Two written submissions from residents in Marlow

Extract of Marlow Community Flood Plan

The Chairman, David Carroll handed over to Mrs Patricia Birchley, Vice-Chairman explaining that she was leading the Flooding Inquiry and would chair the rest of the meeting.  Mrs Birchley and the rest of the members of the Committee introduced themselves and the Chairman explained that Mrs Karen Fisher, Strategic Flood Management Team Leader, BCC and Mr Simon Dando, Contract Manager, Transport for Buckinghamshire were in attendance should the Committee need any technical advice during the meeting.  The Chairman also advised residents in attendance that some members of the Committee had conducted site visits in Marlow, Hughenden Valley and The Willows.

Marlow

The Chairman welcomed Mr Richard Scott, County Councillor, District Councillor and Town Councillor for Marlow to the meeting.  Mr Scott gave the Committee a brief overview of the flooding experienced by Marlow residents in early 2014 and highlighted the following issues:

·         Marlow has a history of flooding and in the 1970s houses were built on the flood plain which would not be permitted now. However the scale of the flooding in 2014 was extreme and was caused by a combination of rising river levels and excessive rainfall on ground which was already saturated due to a prolonged period of wet weather.

·         Residents were unsure who to approach for help and some agencies, particularly the Environment Agency and Thames Water, proved very difficult to contact initially and were also slow to respond.

·         The early flood warning system operated by the Environment Agency (EA) which the public can sign up to worked well – Mr Scott confirmed that he had received emails and text messages alerting him to rising river levels.  However it was difficult to get accurate information from the EA once the flooding occurred.

·         Wycombe District Council provided sandbags to Marlow but they disappeared very quickly and were not always being taken by those residents most in need.  Eventually the Police played a role in co-ordinating the distribution of sandbags.

·         There were issues with sewage in low lying areas of Marlow and Thames Water were very slow in addressing this.  Sewage was mixing with the flood water in Higginson Park which caused concern.

·         Bucks Fire and Rescue and the Military did a great job in keeping the water levels stable and were able to bring in pumps from other areas of the UK. The establishment of the Command and Control Centre in Pound Lane was also very helpful as it became a key centre for information and co-ordination of activities.

·         Mr Scott hoped that the Inquiry would mean that lessons learned from the 2014 experience would lead to an improved response if flooding occurred again in future.  He felt that improved communication with residents was important and that agencies needed to co-ordinate much more quickly. The early establishment of a Command and Control Centre would help to facilitate this.  A more controlled distribution of sandbags would also be helpful and practical maintenance of drains and gullies on an ongoing basis was also important.

·         Mr Scott thanked Buckinghamshire County Council for contributing funding to the Marlow Flood Alleviation Scheme which was now in the very early stages of construction.  He hoped that this scheme and the valuable work done by the Town Clerk at Marlow in putting together the Marlow Community Flood Plan would help to protect the town if further flooding occurred in the future.

The Chairman thanked Mr Scott for his contribution and welcomed Mr Trevor Kippax, a resident of Marlow whose house was flooded in 2014.  The Chairman invited Mr Kippax to share his experiences with the Committee and members then asked questions.  The following main points were noted:

·         Mr Kippax lived in Gossmore Lane, which along with Firview Close, was affected by a culvert running alongside the A404, which was meant to drain into the main river.  Mr Kippax’s home had four inches of water in the ground floor on the Sunday evening. Additional pumps were deployed on Monday and by Tuesday morning the water was completely gone from the house.  He felt that if pumps had been deployed earlier this could have prevented his house flooding.

·         Mr Kippax had been flooded in 2003 so he had a fairly good idea of who to contact when he was flooded again in 2014.  He contacted the EA Floodline but this is a call centre in Sheffield and it was difficult to get local information.  The local office was Wallingford but the number was not given out freely.  He did eventually obtain this number which meant he was able to get more accurate information about the river levels.

·         EA representatives visited Marlow at the time of the flooding, asked residents lots of questions and looked in their properties.  They took contact details but residents had no further contact from the EA thereafter.

·         After the 2003 flooding the EA had commissioned a study and then engaged Halcrow to design a flood protection scheme. However the scheme was flawed and by the time this was rectified the Defra funding had been allocated elsewhere.  This has now developed into the new Marlow Flood Alleviation Scheme.

·         Wycombe District Council (WDC) assisted residents by building a temporary bund across the culvert.  A contractor built a temporary structure using sandbags and plastic.  He advised Mr Kippax that he would have liked to have used blue clay to have waterproofed the structure but the EA advised that this would endanger wildlife and prohibited this.

·         WDC also arranged for some pumping but this had a limited effect due to the high demand.

·         Marlow Town Council were involved and managed to get Gossmore Lane closed to traffic, as cars trying to drive down the road were creating bow waves and pushing water into people’s houses.  Marlow Town Council was also instrumental in obtaining and distributing sandbags.  Some residents in Firview Close were elderly or disabled and it was important that they should get sandbags, as they could not collect them themselves.

·         Mr Kippax commented that he did not feel better prepared for a future flood event because local government has less resources and the two contacts he had at WDC have both left and have not been replaced.  It is harder to get accurate information as it is filtered through more people and by the time you receive it, it is not of any practical use.

·         Mr Kippax was asked if he felt that the flooding could have been averted if he had been able to get pumps in place at an earlier stage.  He advised that he had asked for pumps 10 days before water got into the house, but sourcing pumps was difficult.  In the end WDC provided pumps but it was not really their responsibility to do so and it was slightly too late.

·         Karen Fisher explained that it was a difficult situation in Marlow as there was a mixture of river water, ground water and surface water and different agencies are responsible according to the type of flooding which occurs. Also there were sewage issues and the Highways Agency own the ditch alongside the A404 so there were 5 or 6 different agencies with different responsibilities which is why it can be complicated to organise a co-ordinated response.

The Chairman thanked Mr Kippax and Mr Scott for their contributions to the meeting.

Hughenden Valley

The Chairman welcomed Mr David White, Mrs Debbie White and Mr Matt Hopkins, residents of Hughenden Valley to the meeting.  Members noted that Mr White was also the Chairman of the Hughenden Valley Drainage Improvement Group (HVDIG) which had been set up as a result of the flooding in 2014.  Mr White presented an overview of the issues residents faced in Hughenden Valley.  During the presentation and in answer to subsequent questions from members, the following main points were noted:

·         The flooding situation in Hughenden Valley was not as catastrophic as that experienced along the River Thames in 2014, although it had a severe and disturbing impact on residents and it was frustrating because it could have been controlled and prevented using quite straightforward methods.

·         The Chiltern Hills is a naturally high groundwater level region and contains a number of chalk streams with winterborne sections that only flow when the groundwater levels are high enough.  Hughenden Stream is one of these chalk streams and the winterborne section in Hughenden Valley runs through Mr and Mrs White’s back garden. It appears to flow every three to five years.

·         The Thames Water sewage system in Hughenden Valley largely follows the course of the Hughenden Stream. As the valley has naturally high levels of groundwater, if there is prolonged rainfall the sewers begin to vent at vulnerable points.  This venting can be controlled immediately by installing hydraulic pumps in manholes in the individual properties on Valley Road and when this venting occurred previously in 2001, Thames Water sent their contractors to Hughenden Valley to fit pumps at approximately 12 properties, which they then maintained and checked on a daily basis.

·         In 2014 when Mr and Mrs White could see that sewers were beginning to vent on their property they contacted Thames Water again.  Two days later a contractor arrived to assess the situation and advised that because the sewers were filled to capacity due to ingress of groundwater it was not their responsibility.  Thames Water would clean up once the groundwater subsided but pumps would not be provided on this occasion. 

·         In order to prevent sewage ingressing into the house, Mr White removed bricks from his driveway to create a channel to try and direct the foul water down the garden to the stream.  Residents resorted to buying their own pumps from Ebay.  Some properties had no access to the Hughenden Stream so were pumping from their properties into Valley Road and were told by Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) staff that they had to stop pumping as they could be fined £10,000 by the Environment Agency.  The EA subsequently told residents that they are within their rights to pump in order to protect their property and as long as they advise the EA of a potential pollution risk as a result of the pumping, they would not be prosecuted.

·         It was a very frustrating situation as drainage contractors were in the village every day, taking photos but they were not allowed to intervene with pumps.  Eventually the pavement along Valley Road became flooded with sewage, including a stretch of pavement by the bus stop where school children meet to catch the bus to school in High Wycombe.  TfB and WDC Environmental Health were advised of the health risks for the children there but no-one took any action so again residents put up their own warning signs to alert the children to the problem.

·         The situation was finally resolved when residents spoke to the local press and contacted their local MP, David Lidington and David Carroll, their local Councillor.  Thames Water reacted by installing two six inch pumps which ran for twenty four hours a day to remove sewage from the affected properties.  In addition a blockage in the drain under the main road was cleared.  Initially Thames Water refused to reimburse residents for the pumps they had purchased but after pressure from the Consumer Council for Water, residents have now been compensated.

·         The Environment Agency were very helpful, giving advice on how best to manage pumping into the stream and suggested setting up the DIG based on a model they had seen elsewhere.  Since the creation of the DIG , Thames Water have been responsive, carrying out a lot of work on their network in Hughenden Valley and have allocated specific pumps for Hughenden Valley should this situation arise again in future.

·         David Lidington MP and Mr White have undertaken lengthy correspondence with OFWAT to try to establish who is legally responsible in flooding situations as the legislation is unclear.  A member suggested that David Lidington should take this up and ask Parliament to review the legislation.

·         One of the issues in Bucks is that there is a conflict of interest because BCC is often the landowner which has riparian responsibilities along a watercourse, yet BCC also has the enforcement responsibilities.  Mr White had written to the Chief Executive to clarify this issue.

·         Mr White also expressed the view that culverting work undertaken in Boss Lane after the 2001 flooding incident exacerbated the 2014 situation, because it was incorrectly engineered.  The gradient was not sufficient for under road culverting so water backs up.  Also pipes under the road for surface water and the ditch on the Village Hall Side of the road that they feed into, had not been properly maintained.

·          Karen Fisher advised that her team had some funding for a possible scheme in Hughenden Valley.  Some CCTV surveys had been undertaken which would enable further modelling work.

The Chairman thanked Mr and Mrs White and Mr Hopkins for attending the meeting.

The Willows

The Chairman welcomed Mr Steven Lambert, County, District and Parish Councillor for The Willows and Mr Lee Buckingham, Mr Andre Durand and Mr and Mrs Chris Spreadborough, residents of The Willows, Aylesbury to the meeting.  The residents and Mr Lambert presented a brief overview of the flood events at The Willows, before taking questions from members. The following main points were noted:

·         Some areas of The Willows estate around Lupin Walk flooded on Christmas Eve 2013.  Water rose up again in January but the worst incident occurred on 7^th February 2014, when 80 homes were flooded.

·         There were a number of issues which combined and contributed to this flood event. Residents believed that the culvert beneath the Oxford Road was blocked which led to the Stoke Brook breaking its banks, although this had been denied by the Environment Agency (EA). This was further compounded by surface water flooding. 

·         Residents felt they had received very little assistance in the early stages of the flood. An on-call fireman attended the scene but it was not assessed as an emergency.  Residents did not know who to call for help. Mr Lambert contacted the EA at 5.30am and spoke to a member of staff in Northern Ireland who advised him to call back again later.

·         Residents thanked Kerr Construction workers who responded to a tweet and delivered sand and helped to fill sandbags for the estate. In addition to the problems of obtaining sandbags during the flooding, there were also issues in disposal after the water subsided, as again no-one wanted to take responsibility for the clean-up operation.

·         The Willows situation was quite complicated due to the number of agencies which had riparian responsibilities.  Karen Fisher confirmed that BCC or the Environment Agency could undertake maintenance work and then claim expenses back from the riparian owner if necessary but a partnership approach was far preferable to going down this enforcement route.

·         Mr Lambert paid tribute to the joint working that had taken place since the flooding and to the residents who have set up a flooding action group to try and drive improvements through.  The group has been supported by BCC’s Strategic Flood Management team, AVDC, Aylesbury Town Council, Thames Water and the Environment Agency.  Karen Fisher and her team had been exemplary.

·         Thames Water had recently fitted flap valves to the gullies which run out into the Stoke Brook and when Members visited the site, some of these were stuck closed.  Mr Lambert explained that discussions were taking place with Thames Water about various methods which could rectify this problem.

·         Mr Spreadborough reported that he had sent emails in January 2014 complaining about the lack of maintenance of the Stoke Brook and the ditch in Ellen Road on the other side of the estate.  He finally received a response in February, in which Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) stated that they had undertaken maintenance work in January and were satisfied with the standard of this work – the following day the estate flooded.

·         In response to a question about insurance, some residents indicated that the premiums had remained the same whilst others had found their insurance had doubled in price.  The Chairman advised the residents that the Government were establishing a scheme called Flood Re which would help people who had difficulty obtaining insurance due to flooding.

·         A member noted that AVDC’s Environment and Living Scrutiny Committee  had received a report on the Flooding in November 2014 and asked if any further follow up was happening.  Emma Chilton of AVDC, who was in the public gallery, advised that their Scrutiny Committee would be receiving an update at its meeting in November 2015.

·         Mr Lambert paid tribute to the residents of the Willows who have pooled the money they received from Government in the form of a Repair and Renew grant and this £350,000 funding has been used to purchase a trash screen for the brook, several pumps and some temporary flood defences.  A logistics plan is now being put in place to clarify how these defences can be deployed and when and the residents are looking at developing their own emergency plan.

·         Mr Lambert advised Members that he was very involved at The Willows, from knocking on people’s doors in the early hours of the morning to tell them they were being flooded, right through to pressing for the recent purchase of the flood defences.  However he had not really understood which agencies had a duty to act in that situation, even with his experience of serving as a County, District and Parish Councillor.  This was perhaps a learning point for the Committee to consider.

The Chairman thanked Mr Lambert and the residents of The Willows for attending the meeting.