GIA welcomes flood alleviation scheme
The Gloucester Independents Alliance has welcomed plans for a flood alleviation scheme on the Daniel’s Brook at Tuffley Farm, east of the railway.
During 2007, the Daniel’s Brook broke it’s banks repeatedly and flooded local properties several times, and continues to be a source of much worry amongst local residents. With the brook reaching full capacity several times in 2008, it’s easy to see why.
The Environment Agency’s £1.2m scheme would involve the construction of an attenuation pond at land near Tuffley Farm which would hold and release the water more slowly.
We feel that this is a good idea provided that a thorough ground and hydrological survey is undertaken to ensure that the scheme would work as expected.
However Faye Elliott, prospective independent candidate for the Quedgeley division, which includes Tuffley Grange, expressed concern at hints that the controversial Whaddon housing development adjacent to Tuffley might be given planning consent if they agreed to finance the flood alleviation scheme.
Whaddon development is recipe for disaster
In addition to the concerns of local residents, we believe that storm-water run-off from the new development at Kingsway and Quedgeley Business Park has been a major contributor to the flooding problem. With the Hunts Grove development at Colethrop Farm having been approved, and further building at Kingsway still in progress, we feel that another residential development near to the Daniel’s Brook is a recipe for disaster.
Phil Jordan, the prospective independent candidate for the Podsmead division which includes the area of Tuffley immediately adjacent to the proposed development in Whaddon, said “It’s clear that there is massive opposition to the proposed development at Whaddon.”
“It is my fear that the development will make the prospects of flooding in the Daniel’s and Whaddon Brooks far, far worse. We have been told that any development must have sufficient measures to deal with excess run-off from heavy rainfall but we have seen on more than one occasion in recent years an increase in the floods in the Bodiam Avenue area. We have witnessed houses being flooded that local residents say never flooded before the Kingsway development was built.”