Calls to prevent flooding

Surface water flooding in Puckshole

Some of the press release below featured in the local press and this evening I've had contact from two other areas in the District - Eastington and Painswick re flooding issues....this issue is not going to go away...

Green Councillor calls for action to prevent future flooding  

Last year was officially the second wettest year across the UK, the Met Office have revealed. Only slightly less than in 2000, the wettest. Four of the five wettest years on record occurred in the last twelve years. According to the Met, the UK is following the global trend in increased frequency of extreme weather events, as predicted in climate change models. The Met office predicts that extreme weather events are likely to get more common in future years.

Almost 8,000 homes and businesses were flooded last year as the UK was repeatedly battered by heavy rain, storms and floods. According to the GCC 1,200 homes and 227 businesses are at risk of flooding in the Stroud District alone and the residents of the Five Valleys have again experienced flooded homes. Roads, farming and wildlife in the county have also been severely affected at significant cost. 

Assisted by the SDC Green Councillors, County Cllr Sarah Lunnon (Green) has been working with Stroud residents living along the Slad Brook, since the floods of 2007, to find ways of managing a fast reacting water-course which, over hundreds of years has been culverted and restricted. The Slad Brook forms part of the Frome Catchment. In response to a request by Cllr Lunnon the Environment Agency is working on a proposal for this catchment to become a pilot project for its Rural Sustainable Drainage System.

Cllr Lunnon (Green) says “we are not helpless and we have the skill and ingenuity to act to lessen and adapt to a wetter climate and extreme weather events if there is the political will and coordinated action to do so. I agree with the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) who reflect the now widely accepted wisdom, that a coherent strategy that includes multipurpose reservoirs, storage ponds for agriculture, sustainable urban drainage systems, and household rainwater harvesting is required".

"Hydro turbines (water turbines), like Greens are hoping to see at Ebley Mill, should be incorporated where ever possible and practical in order to establish integrated, resilient and sustainable solutions to protect peoples’ homes and tackle the causes of climate change".

"Whilst I really applaud GCC's decision to use leftover budget funds for tackling flooding, in reality it’s closing the flood gates after the deluge. Only when we face the problem before and not after peoples’ homes and businesses are flooded and tackle the root causes will we prevent repetition".