Hi All,

               Just letting you know that I have raised a FixMyStreet for us all along this stretch to be offered sandbags to try and contain/direct any sewage leakages.

I have also let David Carroll know about this and asked him to try and help the priority on this.

I’ll let you know what occurs.

Rgds

Paul

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

Hi All,

               In case you are not already aware, last night’s heavy rainfall has resulted in some serious flooding further up the valley, resulting in the Harrow being flooded again and also a number of gardens along Valley Road from the Harrow as far as the turning into the school.

Down the Village Hall end of Valley Road, we also are experiencing problems with high sewage levels in our inspection pits. Just 3-4 weeks ago, it seemed quite possible that we would escape the winter without any surcharge problems, but that appears not to be the case now. 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.

Our stretch of the stream is now running faster, so it’s as well to check that your garden section is clear of any detritus etc to ensure it runs through OK to avoid any other potential flooding.

The sewage junction in the field below the pumping station is clearly spilling sewage and the area is fenced off now so TW have clearly been visiting there.

We will be pushing for the supply of overpumping to be implemented.

Paul Woodford

18 Feb 2024

               I thought I would drop an update around as there are one or two things going on that might be of interest and it’s coincided with my having to drum up an article for the Hughenden News. As a result this update is a bit wordy…..

1. The Stream
   1. According to official statistics, the rainfall across South East England from November to January was 21.1mm; this compares to the long term average of 16.5mm for the same period. This was above average with most rain having fallen in December and frankly the rainfall seemed much more than this. The net result is that our winterbourne stream is showing in its upper reaches. At the end of January, the springs could be seen bubbling up in the ditch outside Spring Rising and even emerging from the middle of the culvert brickwork beside the pumping station. It is now flowing in the back gardens along Valley Road in the vicinity of the Village Hall.
   2. Normally at this time of the year, when the winterbourne stream is flowing and the water table is rising we expect to see signs of the sewers becoming full. This year there presently seems no threat of this happening as a brief check on the sewers suggests they are running normally, unless you know to the contrary that is.
2. Road Drains
   1. I’ve done a walk through the Valley checking road drains and that has shown that many are blocked with leaves, twigs and other detritus, to be expected perhaps after the winter. We have to count ourselves fortunate that the drainage system has coped during this time and we have not suffered massive levels of rainfall such as has happened in so many areas of the country. We have reported the state of the road drains via FixMyStreet and have requested a substantial operation to clear drains throughout the Valley. I’ve asked David Carroll to lend some impetus to this. Additionally, we have asked that the kerbsides are swept throughout the village as they, too, are in a poor state. It is worth saying that we requested the road drains outside the Harrow to be cleared in October following their flooding but that remains to be done, so we have to hope that this work can be prioritised soon.
3. Thames Water
   1. As reported in November, our contact in the planning area at TW, Darren Trenchard has departed to another area in the company and we have been left with no replacement contact, which makes it difficult getting hold of meaningful updates. I have directed an email to the Developer Services group and posed a simple request to them but there has been no response so far.
   2. Darren suggested when he left that I contact Customer Feedback for help. Following speaking to them I was referred to Developer Services, who then transferred me to Operations. Operations said yes, they could help and gave me a particular telephone number to ring, which actually turned out to be Developer Services…..waste of time.
   3. I have mailed Alan Beechey at the Chiltern Society to see if he can offer any advice as to who we might speak to.
4. Bucks CC Drainage Engineer Contact
   1. Well, we don’t have one since Jonathan Roberts left us. I am hoping we may be able to establish a contact through the FixMyStreet app.

Rgds

Paul

HVRA DIG

Harrow Pub

During September during a very heavy downpour the Harrow suffered flooding of the area immediately outside the two entrances to the pub. There was some penetration into the pub.

The likely cause of this of this was the lack of maintenance on the road drains but particularly the drain situated on the pavement beside the pub sign. We have done an article on this for the winter edition of the Hnews.

As regards remedial action, we have raised a FixMyStreet case to get the drains checked and cleared. We believe road drainage works are required. We are trying to establish a new contact with a Bucks CC drainage engineer as Jonathan Roberts is no longer contactable. David Carroll looking into this for us.

We no longer have a suitable contact with Thames Water as Darren Trenchard is no longer contactable. We are working on this.

Paul Woodford

3 Nov 2023

Harrow Flooded Again

Amidst the unseasonably hot and largely dry weather we experienced in September and October, the Valley had just one or two downpours. It was one of those that resulted in the Harrow pub being flooded yet again.

Some years ago……

The pub faces the double whammy of being close to the road and at the point where the winterbourne stream crosses the road. The stream is culverted from the ditch on the field side and continues in a pipe underground along Valley Road until it remerges beyond Deeters into the Hopkins field. When the pub was built in the Middle Ages, I expect scant regard was given to the proximity of the stream and most certainly the pub was at the same level as the cart track outside. The pub now sits some way below the road and the stream in flood will spill over the ditch.

Just recently….

This is the second time that Karen has experienced flooding in her five years as landlady at the Harrow. She is very aware of its history, the photos on the wall of the pub provide the evidence.

In recent years, some work has been done to try and prevent water getting into the pub, but it can still penetrate via the entrances and airbricks. Sandbags sit at the entrance to the public bar on a permanent basis.

Karen’s team work hard at keeping nearby drains clear, but their experience suggests that the problem lies mainly with the road – insufficient drainage, road camber and the wash from passing cars.

The DIG have offered to look into this with Bucks Council.

Paul Woodford

HVRA DIG

The Weather

The cool dry Spring with cutting north and easterly winds now seems long forgotten, although at the time seemed to be going on forever. The unseasonably low temperatures have been replaced by a sudden change into Summer. This has brought in a period of warmth, which has rapidly escalated into uncomfortably high temperatures.

This is pretty much what we experienced last Summer with its intolerably hot and dry weather. Let’s hope this year it is interspersed with plentiful doses of rain to help our parched gardens, but hopefully avoiding any downpours bringing a threat of flooding. This all serves to remind us of the battle against climate change, although perhaps that is not a bad thing.

A recap on our DIG and a couple of others

The winter of 2000/2001 was the first time that prolonged rain over the winter and a winterbourne at very high levels combined to overload the roads and sewer system in the Valley. Fast forward to 2013/2014 and the same happened again, but this time it was felt that action was needed to enlist help from local government and utility companies to prevent this happening again. The DIG was formed in 2014 as a suggestion from David Liddington, our MP at the time and with support from David Carroll at Bucks CC.

We drew our inspiration from an established DIG at Aldbourne in Wiltshire. There, the village has the river Kennet running through it, which is a major chalkstream and renowned as a good river for anglers. The Aldbourne DIG had been fighting for action to stop groundwater entering the sewage system resulting in spillages into the village and the river. Work there involving Thames Water and improvements to the river itself continues to this day.

The West Manhood DIG near Selsey on the south coast was formed to help with flooding events in 2012. They formed a working party to create a mapping of their area to get a better understanding of why their area was being flooded. Their conclusions are shown below:

“We have demonstrated to many residents that their recollections of the way things work is not entirely sound. 50 Years of neglect has caused drains to be lost or run the wrong way. This can be proven with mapping so that often money can be saved by doing the right work. We can also identify serious misdemeanours that have created some of the issues. Many important ditches have simply been filled with a small pipe in the bottom. Others have never been seen at the correct depth in living memory.”

This set of conclusions pretty much reflect what we have learnt over the past nine years inasmuch that there is no substitute for ongoing, regular maintenance of ditches, road drainage, culverts and watercourses. For too many years there has been an emphasis on only performing vital work when there is a serious problem. There remains a job for our own HVRA DIG to do despite local flooding not being an issue for us in recent years.

Paul Woodford

It had seemed a wet autumn and winter leading up to Christmas, to the extent that the stream had risen in the park. In late January it was rising and flowing from Church Farm and below the pumping station there were the beginnings of the spring rising there in the large field depression.

When the stream is looking like it will run through the village, there is a chance that the sewerage system will become overloaded. So it was around this time that I opened the inspection cover at the front of our property, but am glad to report at this point that the drain was empty. If the sewage system through the valley is running high, the level rises correspondingly in my inspection pit. For us, it’s a sort of early warning system.

Since then, there doesn’t seem to have been any significant rain, which suggests we won’t see the stream rise in the village, nor indeed experience any sewage problems this year. Unless of course, it starts raining in earnest as soon as we go to print.

Drains and Sewers

After pursuing affinity Water relentlessly for the last year or so, I am glad to say that they have finally come back to us and advised that the culverts under the pumping station have been checked. Except that the work was actually carried out during last summer by their contractor, it’s just that Affinity didn’t know. The contractor reported that all blockages were removed, so it does suggest we were right push for this work to be done.

It’s pretty clear that maintenance is a vital part of our everyday lives, although looking after our roads, drains, sewers and other systems seems these days to be run on a crisis basis rather than carried out in a scheduled manner. Whatever the shortcomings of this modus operandi, we do have FixMyStreet and that has been working well for us in recent times.

I happened to be out in Valley Road on a walk recently and spotted Bucks CC engineers clearing the problematic drains at the foot of Trees Road – see the pic.

I reported on the FixMyStreet request  we put in about this in the last issue, so it’s really good to see the system is working. It does make me feel that the council are responding well to requests we put in. So, if you see drain and road issues needing work done, just get online and report it, it’s relatively simple to use. Just go to:

FixMyStreet (buckscc.gov.uk)

Paul Woodford

Pumping Station

The pumping station is not the prettiest of buildings, but it’s been a part of the village since the sixties serving an essential function and we must all pass it regularly without giving it a second thought. The building houses a large borehole some 250 feet deep and for many years pumped drinking water from deep in the chalk. It no longer does, but the whine of machinery can still be heard close to the building. It is understood that the pumping equipment serves to pump drinking water from the direction of Prestwood up the hill to Naphill and beyond.

Last winter we reported that Affinity Water had visited to site at the pumping station and had agreed to conduct CCTV checks on the two culverts that run under the site. This is needed to ensure that they are clear and able to carry drainage water from the course of the winterbourne that runs across the road from Buildbase, and also the stream and road drainage water that runs in the ditch along Valley Road.

Unfortunately, little has happened since then. We have recently escalated this matter and a further site visit has been made and action has been promised. It’s not urgent work, but the sort that should be carried out on a routine basis to prevent a sudden crisis happening.

Other Drains and Sewer Items

Trees Road

The bottom of Trees Road continues to provide a headache for the residents of the road as the drainage grids at the bottom of the road block up very quickly following heavy rain. Loose gravel and stones rapidly accumulate at the bottom and make it hazardous for drivers turning off Valley Road into Trees Road.

The DIG have approached Bucks CC via the FixMyStreet website and appealed for help this year with clearing the grids and drains. The problem here, of course, is that Trees Road is unadopted and the two road drains and the grids are not the responsibility of the council. We are glad to report that the council have agreed to do this and say they will attend to this when they are next conducting operations in our area.

It would be great if in the meantime the Trees Road WhatsApp group could continue to clear the gravel and stones at the foot of the road.

The Culvert from the Harrow to Deeters

We had concerns about the course of the winterbourne that runs from the Harrow down to Deeters. As far as we are aware, this section of pipework had not been examined for some years. Following a request to Bucks CC, it has now been checked and is reported to be silt free.

Thames Water DWMP

Thames Water provided an update this summer to their draft Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan. This is a 25 year plan covering a vast area, of which we are a small part. So, while we are not able to report on significant details for the Valley, we are able to say that the following is planned for the Little Marlow area, of which we are a part:

• Upgrade to the Little Marlow Sewage Treatment plant
• Improved monitoring of sewage risk areas
• Identifying of  areas where groundwater infiltrates into the sewage network and then carrying out sealing of tops and lining of sewers to prevent infiltration

When the final plan is completed we hope to be able to report some more detail.

DIG Organisation and Constitution

At the October AGM, it was decided to review and simplify the DIG organisation and constitution in light of us being fully integrated with HVRA. This has now been done and a new Terms of Reference document has been produced. It has been distributed to the DIG members and is placed on the document page in the DIG section of the HVRA website.

Paul Woodford

HVRA Drainage Improvement Group

1. Transport for Bucks Actions

There had been reports of water seeping through the road surface near the foot of Cryers Hill, and about 50 metres along towards High Wycombe. On a very wet day, we eventually spotted water bubbling up in the hedge on the pumping station side of the road, behind the bus stop. On closer inspection this turned out to be a sizeable culvert, but which was almost entirely blocked up and clearly had not been cleaned out for years.

We reported this via FixMyStreet and this is now completely resolved. See pic.

At the last DIG meeting it was agreed that we would ask TfB to inspect the large culvert that runs from the Harrow through to Deeters, and which carries the Hughenden Stream plus road runoff underground along this section. The concerns were that although the road drains are regularly jetted, this large culvert is not and could well be silted up. Again, TfB have checked this out and lifted access chambers. They say that there is little sign of silting up.

2. Thames Water

At the last DIG meeting we discussed the lining work that had been carried out lining a section of the Hughenden sewer along Warrendene Road. The DIG considered that because the water table was at its highest in the Boss Lane to the Surgery area, and that sewer and stream flooding also occurred here, then this area should be a candidate for lining.

This has been put to Thames Water, but their response is that they have no evidence of water ingress in this area, and so have no plans to carry out further lining in Hughenden Valley at this stage. However, they report that additional monitors are being installed across the catchment and the ongoing GISMP (Ground Infrastructure System Management Plan) work being carried out is improving the resilience of the system.

3. Other

We have added the Bucks Council Asset Map (All the road drains) to the HVRA website on the DIG Documents page.

No action yet from Affinity regarding checking/cleaning the culverts under the pumping station.

Paul Woodford