Curig
Jones - 4-Aug-2008 - Environment Agency
Wales are beginning investigations today
(31 July) into an abandoned lorry trailer
carrying unknown chemicals found at a
lay-by on the A5104 near Broughton, north
Wales.
Officers from North
Wales Police, North Wales Fire and Rescue
Service, VOSA and the Agency attended
the abandoned lorry trailer in order to
make it safe for local people and the
environment.
Specialist contractors
will be onsite in the morning to identify
the chemicals. Agency officers will then
determine the origin of the trailer and
its contents in an attempt to catch the
culprits.
Identifying marks
such as the VPN plate had been removed
suggesting the dumping of the lorry was
intentional.
The Agency is also
calling for anyone with any information
who saw any suspicious activity in the
area to come forward.
They can call the
Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70
60. Calls are free and will be treated
in the strictest confidence.
Any chemical must
be disposed of properly so that they do
not cause harm to local people or the
environment. Any company found not complying
with these laws will be prosecuted.
+ More
Environment Agency
removes Shipston silt bank
Ben Ashmore - 4-Aug-2008
- On Monday 4 August 2008 the Environment
Agency’s Operations Delivery Team will
begin work to improve river flows at Shipston
on Stour, Warwickshire. This will help
to protect residents from lower level
floods, and delay the onset of flooding,
giving them more time to prepare. The
work will take about one month to complete.
We will begin by pollarding
some willow trees along the channel downstream
of the bridge to help prevent blockages
and keep the river flowing freely. This
part of the project will take about two
weeks to complete.
Most of the work will
have to be done by hand because access
is difficult, but if we can clear enough
space we may be able to get the tractor
and chipper in to make things easier.
We will also try to do some more trees
further downstream.
The tree work will
be followed by excavation to reduce the
silt banks at the bridge. It needs to
be done after the tree work so that we
do not run over freshly re-instated ground.
It will not be necessary to close the
bridge as we have access to the site from
neighbouring fields.
Up to 80 properties
flooded in Shipston-on-Stour during the
summer 2007 floods. Flooding was caused
by water overtopping river banks and combining
with surface water run-off to flood homes
and businesses.
Since then, we have
been looking at the feasibility of building
a flood defence at Shipston. Using the
information currently available to us,
initial indications are that this will
not be viable.
However we have commissioned
a new computer model for the River Stour
which should be completed early in the
new year. Once we have the results from
this model we will revisit the feasibility
study to see if a scheme can be justified.
During our research
we discovered that flooding starts to
occur from some low points along the river
before the bridge capacity is reached.
The work we are doing now will increase
the capacity around the bridge, helping
the river to flow more freely.
Operations Delivery
Team Leader Bill Garrad says: “This work
is part of our ongoing effort to help
protect communities that flooded last
summer by improving river flows. We will
do everything we can to keep disruption
to a minimum and we ask for people’s patience
and understanding as we work to reduce
flood risk in Shipston.”
We have considered
large scale dredging of the river but
this will not work in Shipston. Over-deepening
the river would cause it to erode its
banks, depositing even more silt as it
tries to return to its natural shape.
So dredging would increase capacity only
in the very short term and potentially
cause damage to the environment, bridge
supports and riverside buildings.
Area Flood Risk Manager,
John Buckingham, added: “Flooding is a
natural event that cannot be prevented
completely. We are doing what we can to
minimise flood risk in Shipston, but I
am concerned that, even after last year’s
floods, fewer than half of the residents
at risk of flooding have signed up to
receive flood warnings.
“Flood warnings will
not prevent flooding, but they give people
more time to prepare, and an opportunity
to save as much as possible, including
the valuable and sentimental items that
are so distressing to lose.
“I urge all Shipston
residents who are at risk of flooding
to join Floodline Warnings Direct now
by calling Floodline on 0845 988 1188,
and to encourage family, friends and neighbours
to do the same.”
There are other measures
people can take to help reduce the distress
and damage caused by flooding. Details
can be found on our website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/flood
or by calling Floodline on 0845 988 1188.
