The Washlands Unsafe Drainage System....... Continued from Home Page

In exceptional rainfall conditions, Northampton’s original drainage system had the ability to accelerate the discharge of floodwater downstream of the town at a moments notice.

The present Washlands Drainage Scheme is unable to provide the safe discharge of excess water flow due to the unpredictable and unreliable events that prevent the barrage sluices from being opened at short notice.
You will see from our animation that because the money allocated for the widening of the river channel below the Washlands was ‘misappropriated’ and the drainage improvement works were never completed, it is necessary to evacuate over 1,000 people from Billing caravan park before the sluice gates can be safely opened.  Nobody can predict how long it will take to evacuate the site, because the circumstances will vary widely according to the time of year and the time of day when such an emergency might arise.
The sequence of events that will put Billing caravan site at risk again are:

• A heavy downpour (referred to as ‘unpredictable’ by the Environment Agency)
• The sluice barrage at the Washlands will control the flow of the river by diverting the excess into a nearby flood reservoir
• Twenty hours later, the Flood Reservoir will fill to the top
• Excess water will begin to affect the Town by popping manhole covers and possibly damaging roads
• Police will be advised to evacuate the Billing site - quickly
• The sluice gates will be opened and the flow downstream will increase
• The first stage of the Washlands Scheme where the channel was widened (early 1980’s) will cope with the increased flow.
• The water will reach the second stage of the Washlands scheme, which wasn’t completed - even though £ Millions of public money was paid over by the Council.
• The narrowing of the channel will cause serious flooding from this point.

Why Wasn’t the Washlands Drainage Scheme Ever Finished?

In 1978, Northampton Development Corporation paid £2.15 Million and Northampton Borough Council paid 1.25 Million  - a total of £3.4 Million - over to Anglian Water Authority to construct the Washlands Drainage Scheme, which was considered to be a “vital” component of the town’s flood defences.  Nene Flood Prevention Alliance has examined Anglian Water Authority accounts covering the period from 1976 until the closure of the Northampton Development Corporation in 1984 and discovered that the total sum expended by them on the Washland Scheme amounted to less than £1.5 Million.  The question is, what happened to the additional £1.9 Million paid to them?

Instead of improving the Nene river capacity beyond the town, the Washlands river widening scheme was cut short at Weston Mill, leaving the river in its natural, un-widened, state downstream, which results in a perennial threat to surrounding properties (including Billing caravan site).  We have established that, instead of completing the widening scheme, around £100k was spent on two weirs that were added to the unimproved river channel.

Rather than a repeat of the “1 in 200 year” mantra, what we would like to hear next from Mr Marshall is a statement of how these vital drainage works are going to be completed to make the Town and Billing caravan park safer for residents of Northampton and to deal with the relentless expansion of the town, which can only make the flood risk higher.