Cranleigh Flood Forum update

Cranleigh Flood Forum, called by MP Angela Richardson, raised various important questions yet again. 

The meeting was an informal affair in Cranleigh’s band room, with a panel of representatives from Surrey County Council, Waverley borough council, Cranleigh Parish Council and Thames Water.  Unfortunately neither the Environment Agency nor Surrey Wildlife Trust could attend.  A handful of interested residents ventured out, braving the latest viruses.  Cranleigh Society rep Diane made sure there were hot drinks and biscuits to ensure a warm welcome.

This meeting was declared to be about flooding and not fresh drinking water pipes!   More about those elsewhere then.

How do we all keep the waterways free of trash? 

We were reminded that if your land boundary is along a watercourse, you are responsible for maintenance up to the centre of the channel, while the landowner on the other side of the watercourse is responsible for the other half.  If a watercourse flows through your land, you are responsible for all maintenance.  The Environment Agency and Councils can’t be held responsible for trash in them and consequent flooding when it rains hard. A leaflet from Surrey County Council can be found at surreycc.gov.uk/riparian ownership

How do we stop sewage getting into the rivers? 

Next discussion was around the sewage plant and how and when it ends up discharging untreated or partially treated sewage into our little rivers.  This topic has been visited so many times that it has reached the national news, not just in the Thames Water area but all over the country.  The same answers come along – Thames Water know it’s wrong and spend some money trying to fix it…..  they do monitor the number of times it happens which is how they know it was around 18,443 events during the last year in their area!  That said measuring how many times these events happen should help central government decide that they should use their profits to upgrade the systems…..   In 1981 Waverley Borough Council commissioned a report on flooding that had occurred in Cranleigh from the sewers and this found that the sewerage system was already at maximum capacity in Cranleigh.  Apparently storm waters should not be able to get into our sewage system…..

How do we deal with flooding? 

Well, you see, if only every household used water butts……  honestly this idea was suggested….. Seriously, there is a more exciting project underway – farmers being encouraged to create wetland areas in the highest parts of their estates, and claiming government grants for loss of productive land.  This in turn will help hold on to deluge type rain rather than it plunge straight along deeply cut channels and into the town.  Rivers and streams can be widened and made more shallow, with reed and alder beds installed too, which makes for natural and better controls for rainwater.  Surrey Wildlift Trust has some cash from Thames Water to install such an area – 500metres- in the low part of Cranleigh. If you do have a serious cause for concern about a blocked and flooding river try phoning the EA  here: Environment Agency incident hotline 0800 80 70 60 24-hour service. If it’s any other serious problem the local council should respond – Surrey County Council is responsible for public drains, flooded roads, and groundwater coming up. click here 

How do we deal with burst water pipes and leaks? 

The public are asked to report these as soon as possible otherwise, guess what, Thames Water don’t know.  It’s great the that Councillor Liz Townsend and members of Cranleigh Society report what they see – but everyone can.  Try @thameswater on twitter with a photo and location note. It works better than their automated reporting system. Thames Water is responsible for blocked sewers and burst water mains.

Cranleigh Society is grateful to MP Angela Richardson and her staff for paying attention to the on-going problems Cranleigh suffers.  Let’s hope the next ‘once in a hundred years’ flood event doesn’t happen soon!