In July 2007, the local community was severely overcome by flooding from the Chil brook where it goes under Station Road (Chilmore Bridge); eight houses were affected and others experienced a ‘close run thing’. And it happened again in 2008.
As a result the community worked together to explore appropriate measures to mitigate the effect of future floods...
--Purchased property protection products to protect their homes.
--Set up a community action group to explore the issues affecting the area, examine options, agree a solution and present an united front.
--Worked closely with the Environment Agency (EA), the County (OCC), the District (WODC) and the Parish Council (EPC) and their officers to plan the building of a clay based bund.
--Liaised with the relevant expert officers to ensure agreement and correct installation of the local flood protection scheme.
--Expanded the scheme to include a pond area at the request of the EA to provide ecological benefit plus additional flood storage with the agreement of the landowner (OCC).
--Secured funding from OCC, EA, WODC, EPC and the affected parties contributed the shortfall, to enable completion of the scheme.
--Cooperated and collaborated at all stages with the partner organisations resulting in the successful completion of the scheme for the benefit of the Station Road residents