Staffordshire County Council says it has discovered what’s been causing the flooding in Meaford over the last few months – “the addition of two narrow pipes to the culvert on private land is causing blockages leading to water gushing on to the highway”.
County councillor for the area Ian Parry said engineers were now working with the landowner to look at them removing or replacing the pipes – which were added without the necessary consents as part of a development around a decade ago.
Here’s Staffordshire County Council’s press release in full that was issued today:
An action plan has been drawn up to reduce the risk of heavy flooding in a Staffordshire Community.
Staffordshire County Council has already carried out a range of short-term measures to help prevent flooding on the A34 at Meaford – but has now identified a long term solution.
Steps already taken include; building a temporary “dam”, deploying divers to clear out a culvert and bringing in a heavy duty specialist off-road jetting machine to clean up.
After temporary ditch works and pumping to lower water levels engineers were able to determine that the cause of the problem was the addition of two narrow pipes to the culvert on private land is causing blockages leading to water gushing on to the highway.
County councillor for the area Ian Parry said engineers were now working with the landowner to look at them removing or replacing the pipes – which were added without the necessary consents as part of a development around a decade ago.
Ian said: “We recognise the inconvenience the flooding has caused and took immediate steps to help reduce the risk of further flooding. This included building a temporary “dam” which held back around a million gallons of water over the Christmas period and bringing in an all-terrain jetting machine, the only one in the country to clear away debris from the culvert.
“Our highways engineers have done everything to help with the clear up and reduce the risk of flooding, but always acknowledged these were temporary measures.”
Cllr Parry together with experts from the county council’s highways and flood management teams have met with residents to update them on progress – and outline the council’s own plans to make sure any improvement works meet standards and the culvert is inspected on a regular basis.
Ian added: “Once the improvements are complete we will be playing our part by inspecting the culvert under the highway to make sure it is not blocked, repairing a damaged gulley locally and carrying out a clean-up of the area. I would like to thank residents, businesses and the landowners for working together with us while a long-term solution was identified.”
1 comment
John Russell
What a wonderful example of spin!
“Staffordshire County Council has discovered what’s been causing the flooding at Meaford”
This should more correctly be described as a colossal failure to understand and monitor land drainage in a strategic area of the County. That failure resulted in the frequent closure of the A34, a dual carriageway, that effectively cut off Stafford from Stoke possibly costing the local economy £millions. The flooding started during the summer, causing a relatively minor problem that blocked the access to Meaford Road during heavy rain.
No one at County Highways, apparently, investigated where the water was coming from. If they had looked at a map they would have realized that the stream that flows through the Downs Banks in Wash Dale turns west, passes through Meaford Hall grounds, and enters the Trent north of Meaford. If they had looked during the drier periods they would have seen the stream entering a brick culvert, big enough for a man to walk through, east of Meaford Road but invisible on the west side. Just a quick check on the Google map would have clearly shown that the stream reappears inside Meaford Hall feeding two very attractive ornamental lakes, through weirs that kept the water levels high.
As the frequency of the flooding increased, causing major problems for Barlaston residents, the issue was raised at the December meeting of Barlaston Parish Council. The Clerk was asked to contact County Highways and ask them to investigate whether the stream through Meaford Hall was the cause of the problem. There was no response and more and more motorists lost their cars and Meaford businesses suffered financial loss. The A34 was frequently completely blocked with little in the way of advice to drivers, who had to find alternative routes, through narrow lanes, back to the A34 at Stone. Two weeks later, after many phone calls, engineers finally went into Meaford Hall and discovered that the culvert had been reduced to two small diameter pipes, which were holding back the water, forming a large lake that overflowed on to Meaford Road and caused the flooding. Inexplicably, instead of digging out the blockage in the culvert to release the water, they hired huge pumps to move the water across the road. And, more importantly, built an earth dam that would raise the water levels even higher.
At the January meeting of Barlaston Parish Council, County Cllr. Ian Parry was certain that the problem was solved. He was asked to demand the restoration of the culvert to full capacity but he stated that the County Council could not enter on to private land and, surprisingly, would not dig down from the public highway! On the 28th January the snow was melted rapidly by a heavy downpour of rain, the dam was washed away and a wall of water flowed down into Meaford as a Barlaston resident was driving home. Her car was washed down the hill, she was trapped in her car and was very fortunate to be rescued by a passing motorist as the rising water reached neck level.
Staffordshire County Council did not cause this problem. The culvert was altered, without consent, during the restoration of Meaford Hall more than ten years ago. However the response of the County was clearly inadequate, resulting in a huge cost to taxpayers, and Staffordshire County Council should surely compensate the businesses in Meaford for their losses.