Flooding in a Rugby village could become thing of the past after £140k work

Flooding should be a thing of the past for residents of a Warwickshire village after it was agreed that work could be carried out at 15 homes affected at various times in recent years.

The scheme for Broadwell, which lies eight miles to the south of Rugby, will cost £140,750 and will be subject to Warwickshire County Council securing a flood defence grant.

Work, which could begin later this month, will see measures including the installation of flood doors, demountable flood barriers, underfloor sump pumps, anti-flood air brick and vent covers and the waterproofing to external walls.

The decision to move forward with the Brodwell Property Flood Resilience Scheme was taken by the council’s portfolio holder for finance and property Cllr Peter Butlin (Con, Admirals and Cawston) following a series of consultations with local residents and a detailed technical study which showed that 15 homes would benefit including 13 properties which were seen to be at a ‘very significant risk’ of flooding.

A report explained: “Topographically the village sits within a bowl, with steep hills to the west and east. The valley is bounded to the north by the Rugby ridge and Lawford Heath, to the south by a low range of upland which forms part of the Northamptonshire/Warwickshire ironstone hills. This results in surface water problems, as it is difficult to drain the village.

“The most significant flooding in recent history occurred in 1998 and 2007, with 13 properties being reported as flooding and a further 11 properties reporting internal flooding in 2008. There have continued to be reports of smaller events and in 2013 attempts were made by Rugby Borough Council to construct a small balancing pond and a series of check dams. Regrettably there is still a residual risk and these features quickly become overwhelmed in large events.”

The protection provided will be tailored to the specific needs of each property and the work is likely to take between eight and 12 weeks to complete.

The report added that the scheme would not require the large-scale stripping of sites or construction methods meaning there was unlikely to be any loss of planting, habitat or trees.

It explained: “PFR [property flood resilience] does not alter the natural topography of a location and as such is less likely to push flood water elsewhere. This is especially important in Warwickshire’s rural catchments where topography is challenging, and alterations have the potential to increase flood risk to different parts of a community.”