|
|
|
|
|
Good News….Bad News
It's time to take stock of where we are in our attempts to improve the
nine "Wet Spots" in our area that the Environment Work Group
identified and reported on as part of the Community Action Plan. For
those who still aren't aware of that report it's available for download on
the main ENVIRONMENT page or as hard copy on request.
The good news is that we hope we have successfully dealt with and
signed off on two locations on the list. These were item one at the
Cricket Ground on Oakley Green Road, and item three at Braywood
Lodge. I say "hope" because we haven't yet had weather conditions that
would truly test what's been done.
There's some partially good news for Wet Spot 5 on the Oakley Green
Road at the field entrance next to Woodlands and opposite Fifield
House. In times of extreme weather water flows out of this entrance
onto the road and floods it for a considerable length. Streetcare lived up
to their promise to investigate this location with our proposals in mind.
Our first basic recommendation was that the size of the pipe below the
footway should be at least doubled. Unfortunately this has not been
done, but in the process of jetting this pipe a break was discovered and
work was scheduled and carried out to repair the break and install two
new roadside gullies at the field entrance. Our minimum proposal was
for a grid spanning the full width of the entrance that would feed into the
existing pipe. So this is not entirely good news as it is doubtful that
these new standard roadside gullies will have more than a brief delaying
effect and much of the water volume is likely to simply flow past these
gullies. We will of course have to reserve judgement and reassess the
situation when we are next subjected to extreme wet weather.
The bad news is that the simplest of all the locations to deal with is still
resisting. This is item 2 on our list at the speed bump on Fifield Road
near Longlea Nursing Home. OGAFCA volunteers have twice been
deployed at this location and will no doubt be required again. After two
notices being issued by Streetcare to the owners of the adjacent land
we are still no closer to finally getting the ditch re-established. Normally
in these situations the matter would long ago have been passed to the
Legal Department at RBWM. Unfortunately it seems this department
has been in some disarray for a long time and there does not appear to
be any change to this situation on the horizon. In September 2011
Streetcare informed us that "the Council are in the process of appointing
a Flood Risk Engineer which should allow the resolution of this issue to
be progressed."
The other item of bad news is that there has been no further progress
with item 4 on the list at Coningsby Lane. This is a great shame as
there are realistic and economic measures that could be taken to make
real improvements to this situation. These were studied and proposed
as long ago as 2002. Unfortunately a couple of local residents are
unhappy about these proposals and it is unlikely that anything further
can be achieved until the weather makes this location an obvious
problem again as at some point it inevitably will.
That leaves four locations on our list still to deal with. These will require
budgets beyond what is normally available. Unfortunately since early
signs of enthusiasm from the RBWM "Big Society" Councillor with
suggestions of a meeting at the Council offices we have heard
absolutely nothing. On 8 October 2011 Theresa May made some local
visits to households in Coningsby Lane. Her colleague, Councillor Love
was rather surprised to be tackled on the subject of local drainage
issues but asked for a follow up email with a summary of the situation
and promised to follow up immediately. This was done within ten
minutes of his departure, but sadly there has been no response.
In the hope of not seeming too pushy or irritant, we have been waiting
patiently for the promised meeting date. Perhaps the time has come to
stop waiting but for the moment it is as yet unclear how we might
progress the four remaining "Wet Spots".
Rod Lord
|