Rolleston Update 26-9-24
The below provides an overview of the activities/discussions that have occurred during the past month.
Channel maintenance works.
Following repeated requests for work to be conducted on the channel downstream of the village from residents who have been affected by flooding, the Environment Agency’s Asset Performance team agreed to carry out a list of maintenance items to reassure residents that the channel will be in good condition to convey flows.
This consisted of removing the wire rope barriers in the channel, removing a fence built across the channel upstream of Rolleston Gauging Station and removing the worst vegetation and debris that was reported in the river from the village down to where it joins the River Dove.
The team have been working on the channel all this month and have removed all the obstructions that had been identified. As well as that, they are going to do a final run through with the tractor and mowing attachment.
And the team also identified a number of additional locations where they intend to conduct further works to remove vegetation, roots and overhanging trees. These locations are from the confluence with the Tutbury Mill Fleam through to the gauging station and also where the river passes through the old railway embankment.
These further works have been approved, but the team will only return to carry them out in October/November. I am pleased to report we have had a lot of very positive feedback from residents commenting on the good work that the team have done and we hope this will leave the village better prepared for Autumn/Winter. We have already had a significant rainstorm recently, but as far as I am aware, there was no flooding of properties as a result.
Business Case development.
Collaborating with our consultants, Arup, we continued to make good progress and remain on programme.
As described last month, our focus has been on analysing all the potential options (long list) that are possible both inside and outside of the village and then undertaking a shortlisting process for those which warrant further investigation and economic analysis. This shortlisting is based on a number of factors but focusses on cost and effectiveness.
Our long list consisted of:
- Do nothing (HM Treasury rules – this has to be assessed.)
- Do minimum (As above – this has to be assessed)
- Raised defences – building hard flood defence structures at Brookside, Burnside and Brook Hollows.
- Modification of the waterfall at Brook Hollows.
- Modification of the weirs through the village.
- Upstream flood storage – engineered flood storage facilities at a number of locations upstream of the village,
- Dredging – dredging works upstream of the village, through the village and downstream of the village,
- Temporary barriers – possible use of demountable barriers (we believe it would be impractical to install such a measure in the timescales usually involved)
- Flood relief channel – possible diversion of flood flows around or under the village (this was quickly rejected as being probably the most expensive and least practical option)
- Natural Flood Management (NFM) – the use of NFM in the upstream catchment of the river in co-operation with farmers and landowners and
- Property Flood Resilience – individual measures on each property.
Programme:
Strategic Case Completion = December 2024
Stakeholder engagement.
- East Staffordshire Borough Council – council had a 3rd party survey the structural condition of the waterfall and features within Brook Hollows after damage was reported to them after storm events. The Council have conducted some repairs on the structure of the waterfall (See below) and have also installed monitoring points on the structures to monitor further whether the walls might be shifting or moving. We will continue to liaise with East Staffordshire.
Ground reinstated and seeded
For further information.
If you have any questions, please contact david.hughes@environment-agency.gov.uk
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