Like many places around the world these days Newent floods when there is heavy rain. The Peacock Brook which rises on May Hill, is a sparkling little stream for most of the year, but when the rains come it transforms into an angry, muddy torrent.
Christmas 2020 was a bad one. After hours of torrential rain the brook burst its banks and our newly installed flood defences were overwhelmed. Water rushed through the town inundating businesses and homes and completely submerging the lakeside car park and surrounding area.
Picknash Junior school was opened as a refuge for people who were stranded overnight.
So this autumn, as the rains came down and the news carried pictures of flooding around the country, we all waited nervously for the worst to happen. But by and large, here in Newent we kept our feet dry – nothing to see here! What was going on?
Well, In the New Year of 2021 as the flood water subsided residents anger and concern rose and Gloucestershire County Council lead flood Officer was deluged with enquiries from Newent. A zoom call was arranged and GCC advice was that residents should get together to devise an action plan and speak to all the agencies involved with one voice. Newent Neighbourhood Flood Association was formed.
The Flood Association members are all very different people with different points of view. There are Newent residents concerned for their homes and their businesses, there are people with knowledge of Newent’s history of flooding,and there are landowners from further “upstream” along the book and its tributaries,who were keen to understand how they could help.
One of the groups first actions was to become affiliated to the National Flood Forum and adopt their “Tea and a Chocolate Biscuit” approach to engaging with all the agencies involved in helping to keep Newent above water: Severn Trent,the County Council,Highways, the district and town councils and the National Trust to name but a few.
Tea and a chocolate biscuit got everyone around the table cooperating. The flood association were able to be “eyes on the ground” highlighting potential problem areas like blocked drains which the responsible agencies were then able to act quickly to fix.
The group have also been able to secure funding for an early warning system which alerts at risk residents and businesses in Newent when water levels in the brook are rising and there may be a risk of flooding, forwarned is forarmed!
Things got really exciting when the group were able to start looking at potential opportunities to mitigate the risk of flooding. Over the centuries the Peacock Brook has been”tamed” and altered in ways that may have suited landowners of the past, but have resulted in a much more dramatic and damaging flow of water into Newent, when the rains come.
The group are now working with local landowners, the National Trust and Gloucestershire County Councils Natural Flood Prevention Officer to start to return the stream to its natural ways, and calm the flow as it approaches the town.
Although the measures used are very carefully planned by the Flood Officer, they are actually very simple and low cost, and with the proper supervision can be put in place by landowners very quickly.
“Leaky dams” are a favourite, These piles of hazel faggots heaped into the stream might look like a rather messy beaver has been at work. Actually the wood has been placed there by volunteers, supervised by the flood officer. It slows the flow of the stream and acts as a natural filter, catches debris, meaning less water flowing into Newent and less “muck” coming down stream to block drains in the town.
Then there are meanders. The stream has been straightened in places over the years. Again this isn’t natural, and landowners are working to restore its natural twists and turns. This means that when it rains, instead of the water flowing down straight channels at speed into Newent, it spreads gently over the landscape, causing no damage and draining away slowly.
These measures are natural prevention and prevention is always better than cure.
So what next for the flood group?
Well, Newent’s man made flood defence – the Bund. The group hopes that, Forest of Dean District Council, will find funding to undertake a review, now that it has been in operation for 5 years, to assess its performance and ensure that it will keep working effectively for the future protection of Newent.
More excitingly, the group are surveying old maps of the area to identify victorian holding ponds. These worked in the same way as the big “attenuation ponds “ you’ll see at lots of new housing developments: they held water during wet periods and let it seep away slowly. Many of these have now become clogged and overgrown, but if cleared out, they could start doing their work again.
And the work of being “eyes on the ground” looking for potential problems and opportunities, and alerting the relevant agencies is ongoing.
The work of Newent Flood Association is a great example of how, by working together, communities can solve their own problems and make their place a better place to live – a bit like the Daffodil Line!
