Alconbury Brook Flood Group report for March 2022

Volunteers have removed 3 trees from the brook near Polecat Lane. They have also cleared vegetation from the back of 2 gardens on the High Street Alconbury.

We have with the landowners permission started to remove other dead trees near Polecat Lane. We have consulted the EA about this work and plan to plant hedging to replace the gaps left by the trees in the autumn.

We have 4 permit exemptions for clearing silt adjacent to culverts and grips in Alconbury Weston and Alconbury. This work will take place over the next few months. On the basis of legal advice through the County Council we have made arrangements for expert ecological advice prior to any work to ensure nesting birds and spawning fish are not disturbed.

Our yellow boat is licenced to go anywhere on the Ouse and its tributaries. We are looking forward to launching it soon.

We have met with Jacobs who have completed the first phase of their work. We discussed the long list of 31 schemes which has been reduced to about 10. All members of the committee were consulted including Parish Councillor members. There was a fair degree of convergence in our views and those of the EA and Jacobs. Our favoured schemes remain in the running. We also discussed weighted criteria for additional shortlisting which includes cost, flood mitigation effectiveness, social impact and wellbeing, environmental cost/benefit.

We have continued to work with landowners on NFM schemes. Our current plans will cost approx. £75,000.  The Flood Group Charity trustees are looking at charitable funding for this work.

We have agreed to support the EA in a Defra pilot scheme called Landscape Recovery. This involves the re-wilding of water courses, for example the construction of new ponds, re-connecting flood plains and leaky dams. The first meeting of this project with the EA, flood group members and 20 landowners from the catchment takes place on 28th March. The Flood Group have agreed to support and administer this project. Information from Defra remains a bit sketchy, so we are still a bit cautious about wholehearted support and have our own questions.

We met with the Clerk of the Course at Brampton Racecourse. Like us they suffered considerable damage because of the 2020 flood. We discussed areas of common interest including slowing the flow of flood water upstream of the villages.

The Flood Group AGM open to the public will take place on May 10th at 19.00.