top of page
Search

Alconbury Brook Flood Group Report May 2023

  • Writer: ABFG Admin
    ABFG Admin
  • Nov 29, 2024
  • 3 min read

FAS

  • EA has produced a new statement summarising progress with FAS, main points below:

    • On the basis of evidence available last summer,  the cost of the June 2022 Options individually outweighed the benefit, so progress wasn’t possible.

    • •Updated evidence is being prepared. A new brook survey has been conducted, data from this will be used over the next 3 months for a new model of the brook showing risk levels in different parts of the villages.

    • •Once signed off, the model will be used to test the impact of revised options and combinations of options to see if benefit can be shown to outweigh cost.

    • •Approx timescale for this work is mid to late autumn 2023 with reporting early 2024.

  • Helpful meeting with EA 2 weeks ago to look at updating options and possible workable combinations.

Pond Projects

  • Work on Buckworth Scrape is complete apart from some seeding in the autumn. Thank you to many volunteers who helped with everything from site clearance, drawing plans, applying for permits, taking photos, pegging out the site etc. Also massive thanks to Geoff or course for letting us excavate in his field. Thanks also goes to the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation who funded over 80% of the project. Also to HJD Plant who did the excavation

  • Planning permission awaited for Alconbury Weston Pond. The statutory expiry date was May 15th, since then we have chivvied but to no effect as yet.

  • We have discussed Phil Harts Pond with the Hunts and Beds Wildlife Trust with a view to them assisting. The next steps are a meeting with them on site and a survey day with measuring poles and a canoe.

Flood Mobile

  • Thanks to the County Council and members of the Flood Group the visit Alconbury Weston went ahead on April 29th. Over 30 people attended the day

Gabions

  • Stage 2 moving to stage 3 = Moving from outline design stage to sourcing funding stage

Sensor Project

  • 2 gateways on barns and sensors now sending data to a server in Cambridge. Extraordinary perseverance all round (Well done BJ) Final step is calibration so we can all see graphs of soil moisture etc.

  • Cambridgeshire looking at putting a depth gauge on Mile Brook and Buckworth Brook which will use the same system. We are looking at flow sensors to go in the same positions.

GreenBlue Urban project

  • 7 possible sites, 3 of which investigated in depth. Parish Councils and Memorial Hall committee are supportive. DF now has quotes for the work on these first projects so work could commence as soon as funding available.

Herbal Ley Project

  • Funding now seems to be assured, but other funding being sought to complement work.

  • Baseline measure of soil carbon done and will be validated by a commercial laboratory.

  • Meeting held about complementary project by EA scientists to look at the sediment run-off in Mile Brook. There is a likely opportunity for many volunteers to be involved in soil data collection. Sediment is an important issue which causes downstream flow restriction. Sediment collector may go in the same position as the sensors above.

Key Dates:

 

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page