Flood defence aids on show
Hundreds of people attended an exhibition of flood defence products in Lowdham Village Hall.
The event, organised by Newark and Sherwood District Council in conjunction with Lowdham Parish Council, was aimed at people living in areas at risk of flooding.
It was attended by representatives from the district and Nottinghamshire county councils, Severn Trent, the Environment Agency, and the Inland Drainage Board.
Products including aqua-sacs — a new type of sandbag filled with silicon granules that expand when submersed in water — valves for sewage systems, and barriers to stop water entering properties through doors and airbricks were on display.
Mr and Mrs Anthony Hustwayte, of Harvey’s Field, Southwell, had to move out of their home when the nearby Potwell Dyke burst its banks in June last year.
They lived in a caravan on their drive while £70,000-worth of repairs were carried out. They moved back into their house just before Christmas.
Mr Hustwayte, a semi-retired builder, said: “I had already decided to put a flood protection barrier at doors but I went to see the other options.”
He said the various agencies were starting to make progress. “We have to keep the pressure on,” he added.
A district and county councillor, Mr Bruce Laughton, who attended the exhibition, said: “It is important that residents should know what is available to them.
“A lot of people used it as an information-gathering exercise. Residents were able to speak directly to the agencies concerned and find out what progress has been made.
“I was the first to criticise the agencies but they seem to have got their act together in many cases.”
He said the county council agreed to look at Potwell Dyke to try to find the most suitable way of dealing with flooding in the Harvey’s Field area.
Mr Laughton said the Inland Drainage Board had taken on responsibility for issues in areas including Egmanton, Norwell and Sutton-on-Trent.
Work carried out by the district council after the floods is being used as a model for other districts in Nottinghamshire. The council has been praised for the support it provided to communities hit by the floods in June, when all but ten of its 82 parishes were affected.