Photo taken on 28th May towards the bottom end of Sutton Lane after heavy rainfall.
"We are all trying hard here to live with the flooding issue, and are good at looking after ourselves and each other in the village, but we are restricted in what we can do by Environment Agency rules - no digging of waterways and building up banks to keep water off the land as this would impede water flow. However it seems that this is just what will happen at Stonehenge - digging and building of banks to keep themselves dry. Presumably all the water will make its way to the rest of us." Sent in by Julia from Northmoor on 30th May
" ....... I quite agree with your concerns about flooding as we have a similar problem at Yelford."
Sent in by Philip Rogers from Yelford on 29th May
Below: Downs Road, Standlake, opposite the church and next to the footpath. Photo taken 29th May 2008
"The heavy rain of the last few days has highlighted just how sensitive Northmoor is to the risk of flooding. Already there are huge pools in many of the fields, and Moreton Brook has come up about 1 foot overnight. The Thames is already over the bank and in the Maybush garden at Newbridge.
Understand our concerns, therefore, about the impediment to free water flow caused by the bunding and clay lining proposed at Stonehenge Farm. Even a small change could have devastating effects in such an exquisitely sensitive area. With the previous gravel diggings higher up the Windrush, that river is already prone to flooding because the usual buffering from vegetation etc is no longer there. More of the same at Stonehenge can only exacerbate an already grave flooding risk. Wake up EA and do your duty. OBJECT to this application, as you invariably do when it is from a private individual. " Sent in by a Northmoor Objector on 29th May
"As a Northmoor resident I have a good insight, from personal observation over many years, into the water flows across our farmland and the typical sources of flooding. There are two strands to this.One is the Thames, and we have a flood bank and flood ditch, along with at least one key sluice, that protect the village from a substantial amount of flooding from that direction, although all now need maintenance. We believe that they were created by the old Thames Conservancy, now subsumed by the EA.
The other source of flooding is the Windrush, which joins the Thames at Newbridge. The Windrush floods easily and copiously because when the Thames is high a huge backlog of water builds up at the junction, bursting the banks of the Windrush and overflowing into the fields. This then drains down to the Thames via the various brooks and across the fields. The important point to note is that all that flood water is the ‘wrong’ side of the flood bank.
Stonehenge Farm accommodates an important part of the Windrush overspill. The bunds and clay-lined ponds proposed by the applicant will seriously impede this free flow. I am amazed that the EA to not object on this ground alone. I certainly do, because they will increase the risk of flooding on our land, they will increase the amount of flooding in Moreton Lane and they will increase the amount of flooding in the village. We have no need of models to show this, we observed the process in action last year on the ground.
At a time when the EA has cut back savagely on waterway maintenance, we suffer from poor local drainage, as evidenced by the pools of water already in the fields after just a couple of days of rain. Flooding is therefore a real threat to us. We must stop this development which will only increase that threat."
Sent in by Graham from Northmoor on 28th May
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