At
its planning meeting last night (11 March
2009), Broxtowe Borough Council gave the
Environment Agency the go ahead to build
the final link in the £50 million
chain of defences that will protect over
16,000 people in Nottingham from flooding.
At its planning meeting
last night (11 March 2009), Broxtowe Borough
Council gave the Environment Agency the
go ahead to build the final link in the
£50 million chain of defences that
will protect over 16,000 people in Nottingham
from flooding.
Each section of the
27 kilometre long defence must be built
for Nottingham to be protected. If any one
section had failed to get the necessary
permission it would have prevented us from
building any of the other sections.
Area Flood Risk Manager,
Innes Thomson says “This is excellent news
for the people of Broxtowe and Nottingham.
Broxtowe’s decision last night means that
we can now provide the whole city with the
best possible protection against flooding.
As well as the distress it causes individuals,
flooding can devastate a city’s economic
prospects. This flood defence represents
a foundation stone on which the people of
Nottingham can build a prosperous and successful
future.
“This is only the start
of our journey to deliver this important
flood scheme for Nottingham. I really appreciate
the professional approach of our partners
in helping us to be able to start work on
the scheme. I understand the sensitivities
of elements of this scheme and will do everything
I can to work with the community to achieve
a satisfactory solution.”
Plans are now being
put in place to begin building the defence.
Work will begin at Sawley and the area between
Sawley and the River Erewash in May 2009
and will take about six months to complete.
It will include:
- raising a short section
of the B6450 Tamworth Road north of Harrington
Bridge
- Replace the flood
gate across the Erewash canal at Sheetstores
- building a new defence
wall adjacent to the Harrington Arms.
We will also raise the
height of existing flood defences::
- Between Wilne Road
and Tamworth Road
- Between All Saints
Church and the railway embankment at Grove
Farm
- Around Trent Farm
The work at Trent Meadows,
between Sawley and the River Erewash, will
involve
raising the height of
the existing defences in the vicinity of
Newberry Avenue, Owen Avenue, Home Farm
and the Trent Meadows allotments.
Building a new embankment between Trent
Meadows allotments and Barton Pool.
A new flood defence wall will be built along
the railway line between the Barton Pool
Site of Importance for Nature Conservation
(SINC) and Attenborough Junction. This part
of the works is allowed under permitted
development rights and planning permission
was not required.
Work at Attenborough is likely to start
later in 2009. Here we will:
- raise a short section
of Barton Lane
- build a flood wall
around a new flapped outfall and culvert
between Barton Lane and Attenborough
- build a new wall along
the southern edge of St Mary’s Church
- build a new embankment
in the field adjacent to St Mary’s Church
- build a new wall along
the railway lie between Attenborough and
the Siemens Marconi site.
The defence along the
Strand will not be built until we have established
the precise details of the defence and the
permissions needed to build it. We will
continue to work closely with the community
here to work to achieve a satisfactory solution.
The work at Sawley,
Trent Meadows and Attenborough will be followed
by further construction phases at Erewash,
Rylands, Meadows and Colwick.
As with any construction
project, there is likely to be some disruption
but we will keep this to an absolute minimum
and information will be issued in good time.
+ More
Demolition firm fined
£5,000 for Hampshire river diesel
pollution
A Surrey based demolition
firm has been prosecuted by the Environment
Agency for causing red diesel to enter the
Weston Common Stream in Southampton last
year.
A Surrey based demolition
firm has been prosecuted by the Environment
Agency for causing red diesel to enter the
Weston Common Stream in Southampton last
year.
Southern Demolition
Company Ltd of High Road, Byfleet, Surrey
appeared at New Forest Magistrates Court
on Wednesday 11 March and pleaded guilty
to two offences. The company was fined £5,000
and ordered to pay costs totalling £1,559.
The Court heard that
on 26 March 2008, the Environment Agency
received several reports that the Weston
Common Stream in Sholing, Southampton had
turned orange and also had a strong chemical
smell. An Environment Agency officer attended
the scene and saw a heavy film of oil on
the water and there was a strong smell of
diesel in the air.
Officers from the Environment
Agency and Southern Water then traced the
pollution to a demolition site at Gavin
Street, off Burlsedon Road, Southampton.
The site foreman, an employee of Southern
Demolition Company Ltd, was contacted and
he showed the officers an empty oil storage
tank that was standing directly on the ground
without any form of secondary containment
or bunding around it.
The diesel had leaked
from the tank and run across the ground,
entering a surface water chamber which led
to the Western Common Stream. At this stage
no attempt had been made to contain the
escape of diesel. Specialist clean up contractors
were then brought in by the company to deal
with the problem.
During an interview
a senior representative of Southern Demolition
Company Ltd admitted the oil had polluted
the stream and that the diesel was not stored
in a manner to complying with the Oil Storage
Regulations. He also said the cause of the
oil escaping was due to an act of vandalism,
which was being experienced regularly at
the site. This incident took place the previous
evening but the company was unable to calculate
exactly how much diesel was lost and was
unaware that a surface water drain onsite
ran directly to the river.
An Environment Agency
survey of the river confirmed contamination
for about one kilometre downstream, despite
officers and contractors deploying booms
and absorbents to contain the pollution.
Commenting on the case,
Bill Scott of the Environment Agency said:
“While the pollution occurred as a result
of vandalism the company failed to bund
and secure the oil storage tank on site
which caused serious environmental damage
to over a kilometre of the Weston Common
Stream.
“Without telephone calls
from members of the public alerting us to
the incident, even more oil could have further
polluted the river, earlier notification
by the company could have lessened the impact
and the clean up costs. Oil tanks should
be regularly checked and properly maintained,
as doing so could prevent pollution and
save paying for a huge clean-up bill.”
In mitigation Southern
Demolition Company Ltd apologised for the
incident but said they were not aware that
the tank had been brought on site by an
external contactor.
Magistrates presiding
over the case said they accepted that the
incident was due to vandalism caused by
a third party, but a serious offence was
still allowed to be committed which had
an adverse effect on the environment.
Members of the public
are encouraged to report pollution incidents
to us on our 24 hour Environment Agencv
incident hotline on 0800 807060.
Further information
on the Oil Storage Regulations and Pollution
Prevention can be found on our website:
www.environment-agency.gov.uk
