Alconbury Brook Flood Group Report July 2023

Anglian Water Partnership.

We are delighted to report that Anglian Water have approved our bid for £100,000. This will go towards the Alconbury Weston Pond, The GreenBlue Urban project, and the Soil Science project.

Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS)

Work on the Alconbury Brook model is still underway

Pond Projects

• Alconbury Weston Pond

  • The deadline for the extension requested by HDC has passed. The additional consultees have responded without reservation. We have written to request an early decision.

• Harts Pond

  • Positive meeting with the Hunts and Beds Wildlife Trust who have provisionally agreed to fund the project. Rough sketches and a process have been agreed. Quotes for the excavation are being obtained. Work including tree felling by volunteers will probably take place in October.

• Meander adaption

  • The EA has given help and advice to enable us to (hopefully) make a successful permit application.

Sensor Project

• Following the successful trial, the Flood Group is bidding for funding from the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation to install soil moisture, rainfall and flow sensors at various point in the catchment. Our intention is to share the data we collect with the community in a simple to access format. The Phone ap will allow residents to predict potential flood events more accurately.

GreenBlue Urban project

• Further development of the schemes and discussions with the Parish Council and the Memorial Hall

• Quotes for the rainwater garden materials have been obtained.

• Funding will come from the Anglian Water Partnership

Herbal Ley Project

• The main part of this project will be funded by the Anglian Water Partnership.

• Additional funding is being sought from Natural England to disseminate the outcomes to farmers.

• Experiments likely to cover other Countryside Stewardship schemes and at least one other location.

National Highways Partnership

• We held a preliminary meeting to discuss how we might work together and bid for Environment and Well-being funding. We put forward several projects and will meet the National Highways team again in September.

Hinchingbrooke Country Park and Racecourse

• Concerns about flow through the Country Park mentioned in the last bulletin have now been formally raised with Neil Sloper who is the District Council Officer responsible. We have asked for a meeting to discuss possible solutions.

• The Racecourse is also affected by this issue. We have a regular update meeting with them shortly and will acquaint them with the problems downstream.

Village Fete:

Dozens of people stopped to chat. Very pleasant afternoon despite a bit of rain.

Call for sites

One of the ways in which Local Councils source and allocate land for potential future development is via a consultation exercise known as a “Call For Sites”. This allows developers to have building land assessed for inclusion as part of future local planning strategy. This process has now ended and the public can see the sites at: sites-submitted-in-call-for-sites.xlsx (live.com). If you want to see more detail and comment you need to put the site number into this website: Call for Sites Spring 2023 - What people say - Keystone (huntingdonshire.gov.uk). From a purely Flood Group point changes in the law later this year will require developers to do much more to reduce the impact of flooding and environmental harm. Will that be enough? Take a look and comment.