Wakefield draws up flood action plan

14 February 2008

Wakefield has drawn up an action plan to highlight the lessons learned from last summer’s widespread flooding which swept through more than 2,000 homes in the metropolitan district.

The 28-page Flood response plan says that while many of the properties affected were close to rivers, becks and other watercourses, ‘many were not, and were affected by water runoff from hard surfaces or overflows from drainage systems’.

It acknowledges: ‘Many areas within the Wakefield metropolitan area are susceptible to flooding for a variety of reasons. Most of these areas contain no housing or other building, and do not pose a significant problem, although certain of these areas may involve the flooding or roads and/or agricultural land.’

Although council action may still be needed to minimise and repair flood damage, the response plan stresses that its primary focus is on ‘areas where there is a risk of flooding that could cause a threat to life or property.’

It says: ‘Over recent years, the council and the Environment Agency have undertaken a significant amount of work to rivers and watercourses to alleviate the threat of flooding within the district at identified, high-risk locations’, but adds: ‘It must also be borne in mind that areas not thought likely to flood might do so without warning.’

Pauline Stutchfield, chief customer and performance manager at Wakefield told Surveyor: ‘We are still counting the cost of last summer’s floods. There are 125 families still not back in their homes.

‘Our earlier plans had been based on river flooding but this time we were faced with problems caused by surface water runoff, and we have had to revise how we respond and where preventative work will be needed. There are a lot of lessons still to be leaned but we are determined to make our planning as effective as possible.’

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Wakefield draws up flood action plan

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