Overnight on 17^th/18^th February, prolonged overnight rain resulted in some serious flooding at the Harrow and a number of properties along Valley Road towards the school. The road was so badly flooded that a fire appliance was needed to pump out the Harrow car park and flooded gardens.

The DIG had raised FixMyStreet cases for the road drains at the Harrow (following the October flood) and we are not convinced this work was done before this second bout of flooding.

It is understood that the road drains along that stretch of Valley Road empty directly into the stream culvert that runs from the Harrow to Deeters. The extent of the flooding suggests that there may well have been a blockage in the culvert near the Harrow. On Sunday morning the fire brigade were pumping  large amounts of flood water into the road drains opposite the school turning and this was getting away well.

We have asked David Carroll if this will be investigated. However, it seems quite possible that the fire brigade may well have cleared any blockage themselves.

Sewage System Overloaded

Down the Village Hall end of Valley Road, problems have been experienced with high sewage levels in inspection pits. Properties close to Chiltern Car Sales have placed calls with TW as they are already suffered some spillage. Others further up towards the Village Hall are experiencing full inspection pits along with unusable downstairs toilets etc.

The sewage junction in the field below the pumping station has spilled sewage on a number of occasions recently and the area is fenced off now so TW have clearly been visiting there.

The very high levels of rain made the DIG start thinking about the Thames Water overpumping units which had been used in 2014 to ease the sewage problems. Now, any enquiries about these has been pretty much fruitless.

The Stream

The stream is now running throughout the village and at pace. There have been concerns about the area of the pumping station where the stream, springs and road drain run-off all have to navigate their way round and under the pumping station. Fortunately the water appears to be running easily through into the field (Seven Springs Field?) without any backing up anywhere. Not pretty but it’s working.

Paul Woodford

HVRA DIG