Worst Floods in Syston for over Thirty Years
Could this have been avoided?
The Stn had been contacted by an ex-resident of Brookfield St. Having seen the devastation caused on the 20th October.
He sent us copies of the Barkby Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme of 2004 plus newspaper front pages from 1992/3, the last time the brook flooded to this level, see gallery below.
He sent the front pages of two newspapers that were around at that time, firstly the Syston Times (owned by The Melton Times) but no longer in print and The Grapevine, a broadsheet published here in Syston but again no longer in existence. The front covers from 1992 and 1993 record just how bad the floods were back then and what the then Town Council planned to do about it. The outcome was the measures detailed in the document shown below: it included clearing the brook of vegetation and concreting parts of it around the Brookside in Syston to assist the flow of the water and prevent any future flooding. It gives details of a prevention plan including maintenance devised by Charnwood Borough Council and approved by DEFRA and the environment agency.
Why hasn’t this been adhered to, is another question for not just Syston Town Council, but also the Borough and County Councils as it was a joint collaboration to prevent floods that happened in October from ever happening again!
Your editor gave copies of these documents to the council at the meeting held on 7th November, the Chairman thanked her for bringing them to their attention.
Some of the residents around the Barkby Brook in Syston attended the full Council on Tuesday 24th October to ask the council some difficult questions. The council extended their normal fifteen minutes and listened to the residents questions. Afterwards the residents said that they hadn’t been reassured by the responses from the council.
The residents main concerns are why hasn’t the brook been maintained and vegetation removed around the town centre part of the brook as per the scheme published in 2004? Why didn’t the early warning system work so the flood gates lower down the river could be opened? Why weren’t the flood wardens in Syston mobilised? Some residents said that when they contacted the town council they were told it wasn’t their responsibility and told elderly people to get their own sandbags – this is against the borough council flood plan which states: ‘that sandbags should be supplied to the elderly and vulnerable residents.’
Why did this not happen?
Syston appeared on the National flood alert for up to five days before it flooded, why were no preventions put in place for businesses and residents adjacent to the brook, before it flooded?
Alison Doughty who works in the Duck and Willow and lives at Brookside said “She was very frightened as the water filled their cellars and gardens.” See photographs in the gallery below, provided by herself showing the view from her front door, with the water, which included raw sewage, almost level with their front step, other pictures include view towards Melton Road.
So it is understandable why she and others who have experienced this would be frightened.
More than a month on and all the residents affected by this flood are still trying to dry out their homes and businesses.
The Dog and Gun public house, shown in the picture above taken by N. Dawson, ended up with around 14 inches of not just water but raw sewage throughout the building. Everything has had to be removed; carpets, flooring and stock! Owner Paula Lowe said “she was so upset as it had taken a lot of hard work to get the pub to where it was before this devastation.”
After listening to an interview on Radio Leicester on Monday 23rd October we at the Stn contacted Janna Walker from LCC and she provided us with the information given in the article entitled ‘Who to Contact in the Event of a Flood’ on page 16 of the newspaper, but also available on this website, regarding who to contact should this happen again. She also asked for residents to send in photographs and details of the flooding that they experienced.
If you haven’t already sent photographs and information through to flooding@leics.gov.uk please do so as they want to record everyone affected to be able to get a full picture of the area.
The town council have set up a focus group to look into flooding prevention, this is made up of Councillors and members of the public.
For future reference: our flood wardens as named at the full council meeting are Ree Nugent on 0792 721 5477 or Maxwell Nugent 0793 688 0825.
We hope that the councils and community can work together to prevent this happening again.
The gallery below shows photographs that have been sent in by residents affected by the floods, both businesses and residential properties were flooded on 20th October. The pictures of the Melton Road car park were taken by Syston Town News. We would like to thank everyone who got in touch. The images of the newspapers from 1992 and 1993 are also shown below, plus the report mentioned in this article.
