The Abingdon Herald features three Abingdon Flood Prevention schemes which have a better chance of going ahead now that central government has promised an extra £2.3 billion towards improving flood defenses.
There is some information about these projects from the Environment Agency at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/programme-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-schemes .
The most significant project would be the River Ock Flood Storage Area. That must mean holding water the other side of the A34 and releasing it more slowly. The project still needs a detailed business case, and funding agreement with partners. It could reduce the risk of flooding for 240 houses at a cost of £3.42m. Earliest start of construction would be 2016 to 2018. (Pictures from Ock Street, Drayton Road and near Caldecott Road in July 2007)
Alleviation for flooding of 2 properties by the River Stert, in Abingdon, could go ahead much sooner at a cost of £140K. The third Abingdon project would be a wall by St Helen’s Mill to protect 10 households from the River Ock – costing £0.57m.
The £42 million for the Oxford Western Conveyance is more complex, and has an earliest start of construction from 2018 to 2021.
The flip side of the Thames Reservoir that no one wanted, was that they would have paid for a lot (if not all) of the flood protection for the town (west of the A34 at least)…or so I heard?
Nor trying to sound like negative Nigel but…. Is it worth coming up,with these schemes for Abingdon before the Oxford western conveyance is up and running? When the flood water bypasses Oxford and gets to us quicker then these schemes could turn out to be useless.
The two are linked and part of the same project.
I’ve argued in County Council meetings that we have to ensure that the western conveyance doesn’t just cause bigger problems for Abingdon and that seems to have been accepted..
More here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oxford-flood-risk-management-scheme/oxford-flood-risk-management-strategy
Well done, Neil! Perhaps the snipers will lay down their guns for the approaching festive season….
500 grand to build a wall at st Helens mill!? – is it made of gold?
maybe the same people who charged 50 thousand for a loo at the abbey.
£570k does seem a bit excessive? My wife has worked at those properties on occasion and I’ve been there with her during floods. How big can the wall possibly need to be, are we talking about something on the scale of Hadrian’s little project up north?
If the Ock flood storage pond was constructed ,there would be no need for the wall at Helen Mill, if the system worked.
Interesting proposals but I am not convinced that the storage pond idea will make any significant difference. In my experience the more recent floods have been exacerbated by ground water rises rather than breaching of banks thereore using the A34 to hold back water won’t be the answer. The waterways need proper maintainance, not just the efforts of a bunch of volunteers just dealing with in town areas. You only have to do further upstream around tesco and the Mill to find the waterways clogged. If you can get it out of the area faster in the first place it also reduces the risk
I’m guessing the wall at St. Helen’s Mill is more likely to be £57K than £570K. All it needs is a stretch of wall a few feet high for about 100 yards.
Oxonchris – different flooding is caused by different factors. The storage pond is aimed at reducing flooding if there is another situation like 2007 when a huge amount of water came down rapidly. The Ock rises much more regularly than that, and the flooding at St. Helen’s Mill is much more down to the levels rising more slowly, and happens before the Thames has got to the level where it floods, and is much simpler to solve.