A community website from WCRA - the Westfield Common Residents' Association - based in Westfield, Woking, UK » Flooding

Objection letter re: Local development framework strategy

the WCRA Editor — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:06:41 +0000

Woking Borough Council (WBC) have been running a consultation on their draft strategy Local Development Framework (LDF) otherwise known as Woking 2027. The LDF (once formally adopted) will replace the previous system of Regional Planning Guidance, Structure Plans and Local Plans.

WCRA submitted a submission to WBC regarding this as we were particularly concerned regarding the following matters:

Previously saved local plan policies regarding housing development were being ignored,
The lack of recognition that Westfield Common was a special place worthy of holistic management,
Protection of the Greenbelt
Flooding

A copy of our submission letter is attached for reference.

WCRA – Woking 2027 Consultation final 22 September

More Flooding on Proposed Development Site

the WCRA Editor — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 10:18:09 +0000

So we had a little bit of rain overnight Sunday and into Monday. Nothing particularly unusual for winter or for this area. Nothing to even warrant a severe weather warning for the area.

However as you can see from the pictures below the proposed development site was under water once again.

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" src="http://www.westfieldcommon.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Flood-2-17-feb-2011-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />

The flooding dossier continues to fill with examples of why this land is not suited for development.

River Wey – Flood Risk Management Strategy

the WCRA Editor — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:19:23 +0000

Please find attached copies of the River Wey Flood Risk Management Draft Strategy 2010 released by the Environmental Agency.

Westfield Common is located in Reach 4 as referenced in the documents.

Original documents can be downloaded from here or from the Environment Agency via this link.

: Title: River Wey Flood Risk Management Strategy Lores
File: River-Wey-Flood-Risk-Management-Strategy-Lores.pdf
Size: 2 MB

: Title: Wey SEA Report
File: Wey-SEA-Report.pdf
Size: 734 kB

Housing Site Flooded – 27-28 Feb 2010

the WCRA Editor — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:24:07 +0000

Like all residents in the area, you probably experienced a degree of localised flooding following the very heavy rains over the weekend of 27-28 Feb 2010.

For example, several of the back-gardens in Moor Lane were once again swamped as the ground was already saturated and the local drainage could not cope.

Interestingly, the proposed housing site was also somewhat overcome as you can see from the pictures below:

So this begs the question of where will all this water go when there are hundreds of houses on this site?

Answer that, Woking Borough Council.

Water Drilling – Housing Site

the WCRA Editor — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:27:18 +0000

Did you know that in April / May a survey team were drilling on site, for water, with instructions to go 20 or 25mtrs deep. The drilling was carried out by a company called “SI Drilling” (www.sidrilling.co.uk)

At the east end of the site they hit water at 4 mtrs and in the west end (at best) they hit water at 7 mtrs down. At no point did they drill through the water to dry land. On this basis we can presume that the water table sites 4-7 meters below the land surface for the whole site and higher during the autumn / winter or during unseasonal extremes of rain.

Now here are some thoughts / observations / comments:

New housing will load the land / compress it causing the water table to rise – with increased hard surfaces and land compression the site will be unable to absorb / hold water as a flood plain should do;
The new houses are likely to flood so pity the people who have to live there.
Think about the impact / risk of flooding has on ALL our insurance premiums which is based on post-code assessment of risk.

Further to that, one of our local residents talked with a meter reader and he said that houses over at Quartermaine Avenue have flooded in the past and he said a wall had been built to try a stop the flooding but he also said the stagnant water just sits there and the smell is horrible. So we know that housing to the north of the site is already subject to flooding.

Concerned about the risks the aforementioned resident wrote to the Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett and was passed down the line and had a reply from Brendan O’Keeffe the Surrey Planning Case Officer who advised me to contact my local councillor and /or WBC regards flooding, estate etc. On the 19/6/2009 he received the following reply:

Dear Mr XXXX
Goverment planning guidance in Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and flood risk (PPS25) advises that Flood Risk Assessments should be carried out at all levels of the planning process to assess the risks of flooding from all forms of development. As part of the planning process, the applicant will have to demonstrate to the Environment Agency that the proposed development does not increase the risk of flooding to other properties and that any risk of flooding is minimized.
In the circumstances I would advise you to bring your concerns about flooding on this site to the attention of the Environment Agency or Woking Borough Council.
Yours sincerely
BJ O’Keeffe
Surrey Planning Case Officer.

Flooding Zones

the WCRA Editor — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:00:36 +0000

Buried deep within the supporting document sets for the Outline Application (2006/0399) are a couple of flood maps produced by the Environment Agency showing the flooding zones and impact of major flooding events on the proposed housing development land (see diagrams below).

Just goes to show that we are correct to be concerned about flooding. Will houses on this site be insurable?

Water Drainage

the WCRA Editor — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:11:13 +0000

The high-level flood risk assessment submitted with the Outline Planning Proposal in 2006 states that

The development will increase the amount of surface water from the site
It is proposed that surface water will be collected in balancing ponds and discharged to existing ditches on the east of the site!
Foul water for the site will be pushed through existing sewers. No review of the existing sewers capacity was carried out at the time.

A map of the existing sewers is shown below:

Foul Water will either drain via gravity to the existing sewers or will be pumped to the south most likely to into node 5101 (see map below for a zoom into the relevant node).

All rights acknowledged.

Flooding Risks

the WCRA Editor — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:52:42 +0000

Woking Borough Council publishes a series of detailed maps that supports the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) for the River Wey catchment. They can be found here: Flooding Maps.

The SFRA examines the causes, transmission mechanisms and effects of flooding as per the diagram below:

I have downloaded and attached the specific maps for our area covering:

Environment Agency Flood Map – AppendixB1_DRG04
Detailed Map of River Flooding – AppendixC_DRG04
Flood Depth Mapping – AppendixD1_DRG04
Sources of Flooding – Overloaded Sewers – AppendixE1_DRG04
Sources of Flooding – Surface Water Sewers – AppendixE2_DRG04
Sources of Flooding – Foul Water Sewers – AppendixE3_DRG04
Sources of Flooding – Combined Sewers – AppendixE4_DRG04

So what does this tell us? Well…

the eastern part of the proposed development site is part of the functional flood plain with the highest risk of flooding from existing water courses;
The western part of the site falls within an area with the highest incidents of flooding from overloading from existing sewers (i.e. the sewer infrastucture needs upgrading);
The eastern part of the site falls within Flood Zone 2 & 3 and have a medium or high risk of flooding.

All sites in Flood Zones 2 and 3 will require a site specific Flood Risk Assessment The application of the Sequential Test at these sites must demonstrate that there are no reasonably alternative sites within areas at lower risk of flooding. Following application of the Sequential Test and the demonstration that there are no reasonably available alternative sites in areas at lower risk of flooding, some sites in these zones may require the application of the Exception Test, depending on the vulnerability of the proposed development to flooding to demonstrate that the sites are safe and do not exacerbate the flooding situation – Source: Woking Borough Council SFRA.

Flooding: What are the risks?

the WCRA Editor — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:59:09 +0000

The Environment Agency published a useful online tool to help you assess the flooding risk to your property. It can be accessed at:
Flood Assessment Tool

So I had a look at the map for our general area:

Before

Now lets turn on the flood maps…

after

We are potentially an island!

But lets not worry because its a 1:1000 chance of occuring.

That sounds like long odds until you factor in the impact of flooding if there is an increased level of building and concrete hard surfaces deposited in the area. So what will happen then?

Im not sure but remembering these scenes from a few years ago do any of us really want to find out?

Flooding in Moor Lane

More flooding in Moor Lane