Link to written statement (Wraysbury Village Hall 30/1/2024)
Wraysbury – presentation 30-1-2024 – River Thames Scheme (flooding.london)
Link to YouTube raw video of Wraysbury Flood Meeting 30/1/2024
(Ewan Larcombe starts at 1 hour 38 minutes)
The Wraysbury Drain – the Petition
The Wraysbury Drain (which dates back over 200 years) is mostly an open channel that has been blocked in some places for many years. The channel is approximately two miles long and runs from near Wraysbury Station to the Colne Brook which then enters the Thames downstream of Bell Weir. This channel is a vital element of the land drainage infrastructure and is no longer fit-for-purpose. The Floods and Water Management Act 2010 makes the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead the authority responsible for ‘ordinary watercourses’ including the Wraysbury Drain. RBWM has both permissive and enforcement powers (from FWMA 2010) but what action have they taken? Interestingly I suspect that the Wraysbury Drain was previously designated as a ‘critical ordinary watercourse’ (i.e. liable to cause flooding). The EA planned to ‘enmain’ the channel in 2004 but I do not believe that the ‘enmainment’ actually happened.
Please help by adding your name to the RBWM ‘practice flood defence equality’ petition which includes the Wraysbury Drain problem. Please note that this petition is for RBWM residents only.
The petition was started on 19/9/2023 and reads as follows:
Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury are at severe risk of flooding at all times, the Jubilee River is used by the Environment Agency to protect Windsor, Eton and Maidenhead.
The chance of flooding is rising, and we urge the new Council Administration of Windsor & Maidenhead to demonstrate their commitment to the fair and effective planning, building, upkeep, and oversight of our current and future drainage systems, by firstly unblocking the Wraysbury Drain at Hythe End to protect the residents of Wraysbury.
This ePetition closes on 19/03/2024.
https://rbwm.moderngov.co.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=2183&RPID=11378961&HPID=11378961
The River Thames Scheme Consultation – closes 4th March 2024
Please make the time to respond to the River Thames Scheme consultation. This is a big and expensive project. This is your river, your environment and your money! You only have this one opportunity available until 4th March 2024 to submit your views. Anybody can submit a response to the River Thames Scheme consultation.
https://www.riverthamesscheme.org.uk/consultation
The River Thames Scheme Consultation – and ‘Channel One’
The River Thames Scheme project (including Channel One) was announced as fully funded in October 2019. Total cost was about £650m.
In July 2020 the Environment Agency scrapped ‘Channel One’ from the River Thames Scheme project. The Environment Agency blamed RBWM for not making the required ‘partnership funding’ contribution. In fact RBWM repeatedly talked about £10m when the required amount was £53m. There was no consultation or debate at that time. The parishes were simply notified after the decision had been taken that ‘partnership funding’ was unaffordable and that Channel One had been scrapped.
(The ‘Partnership funding’ policy created in 2011 refers to a mandatory financial contribution collected from local authorities and businesses and put towards flood defence projects.)
My personal view is – we have been unrepresented and quiet for too long. The RTS project lacks continuity and coherence. We should cut our losses, scrap the entire RTS project and reinstate Main River dredging now.
You can have your say by responding to the River Thames Scheme mandatory consultation. A list of the consultation event venues/times can be found here. Please note that there are no events being held in Berkshire and no literature placed in Berkshire libraries.
River Thames Scheme Statutory Consultation – launched 22-1-2024 – DHWNEWS
Link to Jubilee River Index (many pages of interesting and related history)
PLEASE LEAVE ANY QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS BELOW
The least that RBWM should do for us is to ensure present defensive flood measures operate at maximum efficiency and that our plight does not worsen.
I remember the first occasion the D of E /RBWM came to engage with the residents of Wraysbury in the scout hut after the 2003 flood. Full of how it could not possibly be anything to do with the Jubilee River as they had models to prove it! They didn’t want to hear that the flood drowned Datchet and Wraysbury without warning overnight and explained how the original plan had to be dumped when they ran out of money but now the next stage would be paid for by local businesses. Either they were stupid or optimistic, it was obvious this was not going to happen and nothing moved on. It took 18 months and a massive claim to put my house back and insurance companies wanted to know who was responsible and what had been done to rectify. Nobody and nothing. Then came the 2014 flood, this time it only took a year to get the damage fixed and we were given barriers to protect us at the next flood. Great I now hear that these had only a 1 year guarantee. Nothing has changed since 2003 and Wraysbury has to make sure it is heard this time . We have had enough of picking up the debris.