Report on Flooding Meeting 22 August 2018

Published: 27 August 2018

Flooding Meeting 22 August 2018

Present: Anne Brereton and Ed Bradford from SMBC, Liz Fowler from the Environment Agency, 5 Parish Councillors, The Parish Council’s Clerk and approximately 30 residents of Cheswick Green.

Thank you to all those who attended what was a lively meeting. Ed Bradford outlined what SMBC had been doing since the flooding at the end of May both to help residents affected and to work out the causes of the flooding. This is to assist with planning for future possible events and also to improve on ours and SMBC’s understanding of the drainage basins within the Parish.

Residents input was welcomed and some fairly heated discussion took place. It appears that the flood alleviation works undertaken by Bloor homes in respect of the Cheswick Place development have created problems in some parts of the village notably in Coppice Walk and parts of Willow Drive. The alleviation ponds have held back some of the water but when there is very heavy rain they overflow at the lower end into properties as the channel along which the water can flow becomes very limited in size. This caused flooding in gardens and in some cases garages and houses. There is great concern that any further development in the Mount Brook catchment will only make the problem worse. The proposal in the draft of the revised Local Plan for development off Dog Kennel Lane is of particular concern here.

It would also appear that there is a problem with water flowing down the River Blythe from the direction of the Earlswood Reservoirs. One resident had noted that around 40 minutes after the rain stopped a large volume of water came down the Blythe and flooded properties in Coppice Walk. It was questioned whether water had been let out from the lakes to cause this. Liz Fowler agreed to investigate this further. It was also pointed out that there was much debris in the Blythe after the storm within the Warwickshire section. The resident and Liz Fowler were going to walk the Solihull section after the meeting. It was also stated that the space for water to flow under the bridge on Tanworth Lane is very limited and that the bridge at the bottom of Creynolds Lane also gets blocked. Also the sensor on the river gauge broke when the water was at its height so the exact highest level is not known.

Ed Bradford and Anne Brereton went away with new information provided by residents and are going to arrange a further meeting via the Parish Council in about a month’s time when they have been able to assimilate all the information they have gathered from the local parishes and written a draft report. This will enable residents to comment further before any report is finalised. Their findings may have a bearing on the Local Plan review in respect of where further development should be allowed.

The Parish Council is aware that this meeting took place when some residents were unable to attend due to work commitments or holidays. It is intended that the follow up meeting will take place in an evening. The date and time will be advertised in due course.

If residents have any particular questions that they would like to put to SMBC please send these to the Parish Council as soon as possible.