Sunday, May 16, 2010

Final consultation on Gilberdyke flood relief proposals

The process to build a comprehensive Gilberdyke flood prevention scheme is almost complete. A final consultation on the proposals is to be carried out on Thursday 20th May 2010 at the Gilberdyke Village Hall Youth Building between noon and 7pm, where Parish Councillors, representatives from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board will be available.

It is proposed to install a new surface water drain from Westbrook Crescent to Far Drain. The drain will be installed along the rear of the houses West and South of Westbrook Road, running along a short section of Station Road before turning to run along the route of the dyke between the gardens of the properties on Scalby Lane and some properties on Greenacre Park and Chestnut Drive. The majority of the drain will be constructed using perforated pipework between 300mm to 900mm diameter, surrounded by gravel to allow surface water to drain into the line. Existing surface water drains will be diverted into this new drain. The final section along the rear of Skitam Lodge leading to Far Drain will be an open dyke.

(pictured with Gilberdyke Parish Councillor John Jessop at the point where the new drain is planned to join with Far Drain)

Sections of the proposed drain will be new, whilst other sections will replace lengths of open dyke as well as lengths that have been piped by householders, giving a vastly improved system serving a considerable number of properties in the village. These include Sandholme Road, Clementhorpe Road, St Stephens, Hansard Drive/Crescent, Willow Green, Chapel Garth and sections of Station Road, Bellasize Park, Green Acre Park, Chestnut Drive, Scalby Lane, and Sandholme Park

The important aspect of this proposal is the effect on those properties not directly benefiting, by ensuring that during times of rainfall the pressure will be significantly reduced on the existing surface and foul water system, into which the surface water from almost all the remainder of the properties within the village discharge.

The whole village will certainly benefit during times of very heavy rainfall, but in addition, evidence shows that potential increases in household insurance premiums as a result of the 2007 flooding are being reduced in flooded and non-flooded areas of the village as a consequence of the proposals, once the insurance companies are made aware.

This work is a great example of organisations working in partnership, Gilberdyke Parish Council is working with both the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board to develop a joined up approach to managing flood risk in Gilberdyke.

The work is going to be carried out by contractors supervised by the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board who will also be contributing funding and work in kind. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council was successful in obtaining £4m European Grant Aid to which an additional £0.5m was added from the Council funding, from this £85,000 has been identified to carry out works in the Parish of Gilberdyke.

The Parish Council will also be required to contribute funding, this is planned to be raised by taking a short-term loan, the repayment of which is hoped would be limited to a maximum cost of approximately 35p per week per household paid through the Council Tax, which would be payable for a period of 4 years. This figure may well be reduced when the accumulated savings made by the Parish Council for the past and current year are fully realised.

The Drainage Board and its contractors will work with residents to ensure the minimum of disruption, and it is hoped that the work will be carried out during the year.

2 comments:

John Jessop said...

The proposal will remedy most of the drainage problems which have been allowed to develop over the years since the village estates were built. The pity is that a lot of this expenditure and the flood damage could have been avoided if various adjacent occupiers had not interfered with the dykes or if the authority with the power to stop such activity (Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board) had fulfilled their duties in ensuring owners looked after the systems. However we must press ahead and hope the village consultation supports the work so as to avoid a repeat of June 2007. It should be noted that if the extraordinary heavy rains return prior to completion of the work the floods would be with us once more so time is of the essence.

Anonymous said...

Once this project is complete the route of the drains must go onto the land registry site and the deeds to every affected property. No more land grabbing and interference with drainage should be tolerated.