Operational flood working groups

Town and parish councils wishing to attend the meeting are to advise the secretary of the group nicola.mundy@wiltshire.gov.uk of their attendance and issues they would like discussed.

Check back for the next meetings.

You can read the notes of the latest Operational Flood Working Group meetings in the download section.
The meetings alternate monthly between the north and south of the county.

Videos and Presentations

The videos below were used during our recent Winter Preparedness Event to demonstrate the vital work that Wiltshire Council and partners undertake year round

• Presentation: planning process, flood risk and drainage - notes for parish councils: read the presentation  Planning, flood and drainage information for parish councils [1.89MB]
• Groundwater and groundwater flooding in Wessex with Guy Parker from the Environment Agency: Watch the video YouTube: Groundwater flooding in Wessex.
• Whistle stop Wiltshire parts 1 and 2: a two-part video taking a trip around both the river Avons that rise in Wiltshire, the Bristol Avon and the Hampshire Avon. We speak to Melvin Wood, who talks to us about the Bristol Avon catchment, and Jim Wreglesworth who works in the Hampshire Avon Catchment. We visit the Great Somerford gauging station and have a tour of the flood defence scheme at Harnham in Salisbury. Watch the videos Part one; part two.
• Parish Stewards: watch the video.
• SSEN: Winter preparedness. Watch the video.
• Environment Agency - FORT - what is it, how will it benefit your community and how to use it.
• Harnham Flood Defences- A virtual tour of Harnham Flood Defences and how the Environment Agency manages flood risk in the Hampshire Avon Catchment in Wiltshire.
• Shaw & Whitley Flood Group - A video from the Shaw & Whitley flood group set up following several flooding events in their community. Watch the video.
• Wessex Water - How they deal and are dealing with Groundwater and sewer flooding. Watch the video.
• Groundwater - A must for all those communities affected by groundwater, understanding how it works and how it affects our communities.        
• Planning & Drainage - Explains how the drainage team interacts with the planning system to help reduce flood risk to new developments and their communities. 
• Building a sandbag wall. Watch the video. 

Latest Environment Agency South West Water report.

Water situation reports for England

Wiltshire council often approaches landowners to request them to clear overgrown and blocked ditches and watercourses where there is a risk of flooding. There is an extensive network of watercourses and ditches in the county it has been found that parish and town councils have in many cases been successfully able to provide valuable assistance in identifying and helping to resolve these issues including working with us to help reduce the risk of flooding in their communities.

As part of the partnership working initiative we have asked parish and town councils to become more involved in the early stages of this process and using your local knowledge and contacts to make the initial informal approaches to landowners to undertake clearance of their ditch or watercourse.

The suggested approach is set out below:

An informal approach by (telephone or email) from a parish or town council representative is made asking a landowner to clear ditches and watercourses.

If there is no action by the landowner the first letter can be sent requesting action.

If the clearance is still not undertaken a second letter can be sent to the landowners.

Should you encounter any problems don't hesitate to contact the council's drainage team who can then prioritise any further action as appropriate. If necessary then may also instruct the council's legal team should any formal legal action be necessary or arrange for a referral to the Environment Agency where a watercourse is a main river.

If you would like to discuss this matter further or require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact Renate Malton, Project Officer on 01225 712514 (mobile 07827 954856) or by email renate.malton@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Lead Local Flood Authorities are required, under Section 21 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, to establish and maintain:

(a) A register of structures or features which, in the opinion of the authority, are likely to have a significant effect on a flood risk in its area, and

(b) A record of information about each of those structures or features, including information about ownership and state of repair.

The Act goes on to state that 'the lead local flood authority must arrange for the register to be available for inspection at all reasonable times'.

Wiltshire council has chosen to use a web-based system that will be accessible to the public. Through the course of our work on flood investigations and local flood risk assessments we are collecting data on structures and features which are likely to have a significant effect on flood risk within Wiltshire. Examples may include flood defences, bridges, culverts, drainage ditches and embankments. They can be natural or man-made.

We record relevant information about each asset, including its ownership and condition, and why it is significant to local flood risk.This site is still under construction and will be updated periodically as we become aware of further significant assets.

The latest available Asset Register can be found in the download section.