The Environment Agency is launching a public consultation on how to best manage future flood risk in the Black Sluice catchment.
The Black Sluice catchment is the area around the South Forty Foot Drain where water flows into the River Haven. It includes the Black Sluice Pumping Station and the villages of Swaton and Billingborough, which have previously experienced both surface water and river flooding.
The catchment is predominantly prime agricultural land. The Environment Agency’s priority is to protect people and their homes, but flood risk to farming and national food security is also an important consideration.
The six-week public consultation, which begins on 17th August, is seeking views on a number of options to reduce flood risk for the catchment as a whole, as well as options for the future of the pumping station.
The pumping station was built in 1946 and all five of its pumps are at the end of their working life. Options specifically for the future of the pumping station include replacing the pumps, removing them, or transferring them to the local internal drainage board.
Deborah Campbell, Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
“We’ve been looking at flood risk management here since 2012, and it makes more sense for us to look at the catchment as a whole, rather than just the pumping station in isolation. This will allow us to make best use of Government funding to reduce the risk to people’s homes and businesses.”
“The pumping station was never built to reduce flood risk to people’s homes, but rather to drain water from surrounding land. We want to reassure people that from our initial surveys, no homes would be at an increased risk if the pumps were decommissioned.”
However, while the Black Sluice pumping station does reduce flood risk to areas of agricultural land, based on the Government funding formula used by the Environment Agency this is not enough for Government to fund all the work. The Agency’s investigations have shown that all the other drainage and flood risk structures in the catchment provide far more protection to this nationally important area for food production.
The Agency is now considering a range of options throughout the catchment, while continuing its ongoing work and maintenance in the area to reduce the risk of flooding.
The Environment Agency is also holding a series of information to set out more about the options to local communities and other stakeholders.
The consultation can be accessed via the Agency’s website from 17 August.