Southwell Town Council’s Town Environment committee recommend full council ask for update on long awaited Nottinghamshire County Council flood bund to defend homes from Potwell Dyke

Recent flooding has turned attention back to years-long plans for flood defences in a town.

Plans for a flood bund across Potwell Dyke, in Southwell, have been ongoing for a number of years, but have experienced a setback due to Environment Agency concerns.

The plan was submitted by Nottinghamshire County Council and welcomed by Southwell Town Council in early 2022 after the county council secured funding for the project, and other flood alleviation works in the town, in 2018.

Need for protection began being explored after the town experienced significant flooding in 2013.

It has recently experienced further flooding during Storm Babet in 2023 and Storm Henk.

Steve Perry said: “Should the bund be in place we would have had a lot less hassle with the flooding [during Storm Henk].

“We don’t have a date, we don’t even have a prospect of a date.

“Unless we keep asking questions they’re going to keep drifting along — they’ve had ten years.”

Southwell Town Council’s Town Environment Committee has agreed to recommend to full council that a request for an update on the progress is set to Nottinghamshire County Council and Via East Midlands.

An objection by the Environment Agency, due to missing information on the plans, led to borehole tests being carried out at the site to determine its current structural viability.

The council has also previously said it wouldn’t pay more of its part of the costs until work was shown to be underway, to ensure it got the protection it needs.

The matter was raised after the council gave thanks to flood wardens for their efforts during Storm Henk, which saw Nottingham Road and the River Greet affected by flooding.