It was good to chair another very well-attended Worplesdon Flood Forum at the Parish Council offices this month. This was a special forum with an agenda dedicated to discussing the issues caused by the recent storms in January.
This forum is so important to the community as, following recent storms and heavy rain, residents have been massively impacted by flooding issues. Therefore, I was pleased to facilitate discussions with local stakeholders to ensure these issues get resolved.
We discussed the severe internal flooding caused by Storm Hank in Wood Street Village, the multiple properties in Rickford and Oakhill which have experienced flooding, as well as drainage issues on Aldershot Road. Action must be taken swiftly to ensure these issues are mitigated.
During the forum, we discussed a blockage that was cleared on Merrist Wood Golf Course which helped dissipate the flooding quickly. We are adding the golf course as a place that we will walk around as part of the next forum.
Separately, I will be taking up the flooding experience of residents on the new development of Halifax Close and will be looking into issues of the alarms and pumps.
It’s been so disappointing for the Parish Council not to get the support and funding they needed for their Community Skip Day, especially as some of the recent flooding was caused by fly-tipped mattresses. A little bit of investment can solve a whole lot of heartache for people’s homes who have been flooded. Therefore, I will be writing to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to seek funding to support the Parish Council to run a Community Skip Day.
This was a productive meeting, and it was good to see important steps being taken to resolve issues on the agenda.
Thank you to the many residents who joined, to Worplesdon Parish Councillors, the Surrey County Councillor, as well as stakeholders from the Environment Agency, Vivid Homes, and Tim Gamble from Merrist Wood College, among others. I would like to thank Gaynor White, the Worplesdon Parish Council Clerk and I would especially like to thank Victoria Fear, the Assistant Clerk, for arranging this meeting and who has been working tirelessly to ensure residents get the solutions that they deserve.