Flood storage scheme launched to reduce risk of repeats
A flood risk management scheme has opened after £4.1m of investment designed to avoid a repeat of flooding that hit Mid-Worcestershire twice in recent years.
The Badsey Brook flood risk management scheme (Credit: @ExploreThePast / Twitter)
The Badsey Brook flood risk management scheme has been delivered as part of the Environment Agency’s £2.6bn capital investment programme to reduce flood risk to 300,000 homes by 2021.
“Flooding is personally, financially and environmentally devastating,” said Nigel Huddleston MP for Mid Worcestershire. “May it protect people, businesses and properties for years to come.”
Businesses and homes in Broadway, Childswickham and Murcot were severely flooded in 2007 following record-breaking rainfall across the area and the villages were again flooded in 2012.
The new flood storage area, sited at an 18-acre field in Broadway, will be able to hold up to 135,000 cubic metres of water during times of flood and will only allow a set amount of water to flow downstream at times of intense and high rainfall.
The funding was provided by a £2m Government grant, £1.2m from the Environment Agency’s English Severn and Wye regional flood and coastal committee, and £900,000 from council bodies.
Badsey Brook scheme control structure
Daniel Wilkinson from the Environment Agency said: “Flooding has a devastating impact on the lives of people and communities that are affected. It’s brilliant that by working with our partners we have found a solution that is designed to greatly reduce the risk of flooding for residents living in Broadway, Childswickham and Murcot.”
As a condition of the planning application, detailed archaeological investigations were carried out at the site, unearthing evidence of settlements dating back around 8,500 years. Finds included a beaker dating from around 2,000 BC and skeletons of a mother and baby.
