Category: Flooding

Flood Reporting – Cambridgeshire County Council

Cambridgeshire County Council are trying to gather information as to which areas have properties that have been affected by flooding. 

If residents could please report flooding to Cambridgeshire County Council, including where properties might not have been directly affected but access was made difficult/impossible, it would be really helpful.

Reports can be made here: Flood reporting – Cambridgeshire County Council website (achieveservice.com)

Support for properties affected by Storm Babet

Dear Councillor,

We are emailing on behalf of Victoria Atkins MP to share an update on the support that is available for households and businesses who were flooded as result of Storm Babet.

Victoria thought it may be helpful to set out the support that is available to constituents, businesses and households. Details on how to apply or how to register an interest in applying have now been published for each of the government measures which we’ve set out briefly below.

  • Community Recovery Grant – up to £500 hardship funding. This funding is provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and distributed by East Lindsey District Council. Applications can be made by emailing communitysupport@e-lindsey.gov.uk.
  • Council Tax Discount – 100% Council Tax relief for at least 3 months. This is funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and distributed by East Lindsey District Council. Applications can be made by emailing counciltax@e-lindsey.gov.uk or on 01507 601111; select “Council Tax” and hold to speak with an advisor.
  • Business Rates Relief – 100% Business Rates Relief for at least 3 months. This is funded by Central Government and distributed by East Lindsey District Council. Please contact East Lindsey District Council for further details on 01507 601111 selecting “Business Rates” or email businessrates@e-lindsey.gov.uk.
  • Property Flood Resilience Repair Grant Scheme – Eligible property owners can apply for up to £5,000 to help make their property more resilient to future flooding. This funding is distributed by Lincolnshire County Council. Applications can be made via lincolnshire.gov.uk/floodgrants. The scheme expires in early 2025. The Council is asking eligible property owners to register as soon as you are able to, to avoid any delay to your claim.
  • Business Recovery Grant – Small-to-medium sized businesses in affected areas will be eligible for up to £2,500 to help them return quickly to business as usual. This funding will be delivered by East Lindsey District Council. Businesses can register an intention to apply now by mailing Niki.Shepheard@boston.gov.uk, with their business name, address and a brief summary of how their business was impacted by Storm Babet. It is likely that the application window will be open throughout December, closing on the 31 December 2023.

Victoria would be grateful if you could please pass on this information of the support measures to those you know have been affected.

If you have any questions on support, please do not hesitate to contact Victoria’s office at victoria@victoriaatkins.org.uk or on 01507 527 017.

Community Flood Action Programme – Friday 8th December

Working together to tackle flooding is just one of the ways the council is keeping communities across Cambridgeshire informed and prepared to stay safe and healthy during the winter months of 2023/24.

Our team will be joined by representatives of the National Flood Forum and other partner organisations at a dedicated drop-in session on Friday 8 December from 10am – 12.30pm at the Starling room in New Shire Hall. The event is open to all, and no bookings are necessary.

The team will be able to discuss any concerns, explain measures you can take to help protect your property and community against flooding, and talk you through how to report different types of flooding.

We look forward to seeing you there. Please share this email to anyone who you think may be interested to attend.

Update from Anglian Water

Following the recent wet weather, Anglian Water have provided the following update. The Parish Council and County Council are continuing to press for a satisfactory outcome to the issues experienced by residents.

“I sincerely apologise for the delay in getting back to you, our operational teams are prioritising helping customers recover from the storms and so it is taking longer than usual to get information from them.

Further investigations into the source of excess flows during storm events indicate that they seem to be coming from Longstanton. As a result, we are going to review the data in more detail and look to carry out a comprehensive survey of this neighbouring catchment to see if we can remove any surface water connections there. This would help to reduce the flood risk in Willingham and Longstanton.

In order to progress these next steps we are working with local operations teams who will help pull together an investment business case to be assessed on priority against other investment needs across our region.”

Flood Groups Conference – Thursday 21st September 2023

The Community Flood Team is holding the Flood Group Conference on Thursday 21st September 2023 at Burgess Hall in St Ives One Leisure, Westwood Rd, St Ives, St. Ives PE27 6WU. Following on from a successful launch last year and the great feedback received, they are extending this conference to also cover any communities in the River Great Ouse catchment which includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Central Bedfordshire, West Northamptonshire, Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes and Norfolk.

Organised by the Community Flood Action Programme team (part of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Flood Risk team), the conference is open to community flood groups and any residents with an interest in learning more about flood resilience or setting up their own flood group.

The plan for the day is to have 3 presentations in the morning, have a long break for lunch for people to network, have a look around the Floodmobile and then have 2 workshops that would run in parallel. Here is the link to register: Flood Groups Conference 2023 Tickets, Thu 21 Sep 2023 at 10:15 | Eventbrite

Please view their promotional video to give you an idea of their previous conference : Cambridgeshire Flood Groups Conference 2022: Highlights – YouTube

For any additional information please contact the Flood Risk team at CFAP@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

St Ives Greenway consultation

Share your views on improvements to the St Ives Greenways opens today (6th February)

We have launched an eight-week public consultation on improving links to the St Ives Greenway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway path) from Fen Drayton, Over, Oakington, Westwick and Cottenham.

We encourage anyone with an interest to share their views on the proposed designs. Have your say by visiting the consultation website or attending our virtual events linked below.

These two St Ives Greenway projects will provide safer and better routes for people walking, cycling and, where appropriate, horse-riding.

The consultation begins today – midday, 6th February – and closes at midday on Friday 31st March.

Your feedback will be considered as part of further design and planning work and ongoing engagement with landowners along the route.  

To find out more and share your views with us please visit the following websites:

Flooding on the route

It is well known that the main busway route is liable to flooding in the Fen Drayton lakes area and we are working to address this as part of the St Ives Greenway project.

To design the best long-term solution, we have installed flood monitoring equipment that will collect data on flooding locations, extents, duration and depth over the next 18 months.

The data this provides will help us to make informed proposals on the best approach to prevent flooding of the route in future as our climate changes.

Attend an event

There will be two virtual events on Thursday 2nd March:

The engagement we are launching today is part of a rolling programme across the 12 Greenways routes in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, following engagement last year on six other greenway routes.

This will give communities an opportunity to shape how each will look, aiming to provide better walking and cycling connections, and cater to equestrians where appropriate.

County Council flood prevention survey

As part of the County Council’s Community Flood Action Programme, ‘Riparian’ guidance is to be updated to make it more useful for those who have a watercourse on their land. As part of this work, they want to better understand what residents and landowners currently understand about responsibilities of maintaining watercourses (ditches, streams etc.) on private land. A short survey (5 questions) has been published, and we are helping to promote this to residents. If you would be willing to share our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram posts within your communities, that would be helpful. Alternatively, you can access or share the survey using this direct link. The deadline to respond is 30 September. You can find out more about Riparian ownership on the County Council’s website

Willingham Supplementary Flood Plan – Can you help?

Following the floods at the end of last year, Willingham Parish Council are currently reinforcing their existing flood plan.

One of the routes the Council is looking at will be possibly forming a small flood management team and recruiting residents to act as neighbourhood support volunteers. 

It is hoped to be able to divide the village into zones so that when a risk of flood is highlighted, the management team would be activated and would co-ordinate the neighbourhood support volunteers. The volunteers would notify residents in a particular zone at risk of flooding and distribute advisory information where appropriate.  By dividing the village this way, it is hoped that more people can be reached but in order to achieve this, volunteers will be needed to support the plan.

If you would like to be involved as either a member of the management team or as a neighbourhood support volunteer or would like more information then please forward your details to the Parish Clerk on email@willinghampc.org.uk or telephone 01954 261027