News Articles
Gloucestershire Live - 28 Feb 2020
Pumps brought in to save 55 homes from the River Severn as minister pledges to look at planning policy after seeing images of flooding in Tewkesbury
George Eustace pledges to look at planning policy after seeing images of flooded housing site in Tewkesbury
ByJanet Hughes Senior Digital Reporter
As engineers and residents battled to save 55 homes from River Severn flooding this morning Environment Secretary George Eustice has pledged to look at planning policies after seeing photographs of flooding at a controversial housing site in Tewkesbury,
The swell on the Severn is still flowing between Tewkesbury and Gloucester this morning and river levels will remain high across the county all weekend.
But although the focus of attention has shifted to Alney Island in Gloucester which will feel the full force of the water today, fears are growing that building projects in the pipeline could make things much worse in future as the one in one hundred year floods become common occurances.
Pumps have been brought in by the Environment Agency to try and stop 55 properties near Westgate Bridge under Alney Island.
But the high water levels are still causing flooding of roads and properties at Tirley, Ashleworth, Sandhurst Lane and Maisemore and Tewkesbury MP Laurence Robertson sent George Eustace images of Twigworth.
Referring to a statement by Sir James Bevan, head of the Environment Agency who said some developments on or near flood plains should never have been approved, he told Mr Eustace that the Government had allowed the Twigworth development just over two years ago after it was turned down by the district council.
He said this was despite former Prime Minister David Cameron visiting the area in 2014 and saying such land should not be built on.
Everything the Met Office is saying about Storm Jorge weather warning and what it means for Gloucestershire. “I actually sent him photographs of a particular site which is flooded at the moment, has been previously flooded, but houses have been allowed on appeal to be built there” he told the BBC adding that he was referring to a 750 home estate at Twigworth.
“He sent me a message last night saying that perhaps we need to look at advice they give as regard to stopping such developments. “I will be meeting“ George Eustace, hopefully over the next few days, to discuss this further.”
He added: “The problem is the Environment Agency often do not object strongly enough about these proposals.
“That was a very bad decision and I want some good to come out of of it by saying this isn’t good enough, we need to change the policy and and change the strength of the advice on this issue.” Today staff are working around the clock checking drains and defences to try and save the homes from the high river levels which have caused chaos as the Severn travelled through Wales, Shropshire and Worcestershire. And residents are bracing themselves for the High Tides at around 10.30am this morning and 11pm tonight as well has heavy rain.
Twigworth residents protesting outside Tewkesbury Borough Council offices
Nick Green, the flood risk manager for Gloucestershire at the Environment Agency, said the pump was brought in to protect the 55 properties at Alney Island under threat. Further flooding is expected because river levels are unlikely to drop over the weekend.
And there could be another peak to come next week. More rain is due to fall at the head of the Severn in Wales and it takes about five days to work its way down to Gloucester. “We are on top of our game and doing everything necessary to makes sure people are protected,” said an Environment Agency official.
END
Background
21 December 2017 the Secretary of State recommended that the appeal be allowed and outline planning permission be granted for a mixed use development comprising demolition of existing buildings; up to 725 dwellings and a local centre of 0.33 ha.
3 January 2018 - The Planner
Appeal: Sajid Javid approves 2,025 homes despite flood threat
The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, has approved 2,025 homes on former green belt land in Gloucester that was badly flooded in 2007, ruling that environmental concerns were ‘not insurmountable’ and could be mitigated through planning conditions.
Developer Robert Hitchins submitted two parallel applications in July 2015, proposing 1,300 homes in Innsworth, a suburb of Gloucester, and another 725 homes in Twigworth, a village one mile to the north, as well as various ancillary development including schools, community centres and offices. After Tewkesbury Borough Council failed to reach a decision in time,
https://www.theplanner.co.uk/decision/appeal-javid-approves-2025-homes-despite-flood-threat
20 June 2017 - The public local inquiry lasted over 7 days
12 May 2017 - There may or may not be suitable examples of this type of development, but we don’t log this type of thing. Clearly we could help you with advice / design for such situations, though if the site is regularly flooded from river and rainfall, it doesn’t sound like a site which should be being considered for development.
Richard Kellagher, Technical Director, Water Management
Nov 2015 - Plans to build 725 Gloucestershire homes on floodplain at Twigworth branded ridiculous. This area had been taken out of the Joint Core Strategy and was not considered for development. A spokesman for the Boddington-based developers said: “A 32-hectare site in Twigworth has been promoted by Robert Hitchins Ltd through the Joint Core Strategy as an ‘omission site’, suitable for approximately 725 homes.
http://www.southwestbusiness.co.uk/sectors/construction-and-commercial-property/06112015135519-plans-to-build-725-gloucestershire-homes-on-floodplain-at-twigworth-branded-ridiculous/
The JCS has been under preparation since 2008. It was subject to five rounds of consultation prior to submission in November 2014. At the penultimate round of consultation in the autumn of 2013 three of the strategic sites (Twigworth, Innsworth and Ashchurch) were identified as allocations. However, the Twigworth site was dropped as an allocation prior to submission in response to a reduced housing requirement of 30,500 homes over the period 2011 to 2031.
Twigworth Parish Council has been lobbying against this application since summer 2014.
In 2015 Twigworth Parish Council submitted concerns about the inaccuracy of pluvial flood mapping by public agencies in their objection to the planning application to Tewkesbury Borough Council by Robert Hitchins (15/01149/OUT). Twigworth Parish Council has never received a response or acknowledgement from any developer or public agency in relation to this.
Pumps brought in to save 55 homes from the River Severn as minister pledges to look at planning policy after seeing images of flooding in Tewkesbury
George Eustace pledges to look at planning policy after seeing images of flooded housing site in Tewkesbury
ByJanet Hughes Senior Digital Reporter
As engineers and residents battled to save 55 homes from River Severn flooding this morning Environment Secretary George Eustice has pledged to look at planning policies after seeing photographs of flooding at a controversial housing site in Tewkesbury,
The swell on the Severn is still flowing between Tewkesbury and Gloucester this morning and river levels will remain high across the county all weekend.
But although the focus of attention has shifted to Alney Island in Gloucester which will feel the full force of the water today, fears are growing that building projects in the pipeline could make things much worse in future as the one in one hundred year floods become common occurances.
Pumps have been brought in by the Environment Agency to try and stop 55 properties near Westgate Bridge under Alney Island.
But the high water levels are still causing flooding of roads and properties at Tirley, Ashleworth, Sandhurst Lane and Maisemore and Tewkesbury MP Laurence Robertson sent George Eustace images of Twigworth.
Referring to a statement by Sir James Bevan, head of the Environment Agency who said some developments on or near flood plains should never have been approved, he told Mr Eustace that the Government had allowed the Twigworth development just over two years ago after it was turned down by the district council.
He said this was despite former Prime Minister David Cameron visiting the area in 2014 and saying such land should not be built on.
Everything the Met Office is saying about Storm Jorge weather warning and what it means for Gloucestershire. “I actually sent him photographs of a particular site which is flooded at the moment, has been previously flooded, but houses have been allowed on appeal to be built there” he told the BBC adding that he was referring to a 750 home estate at Twigworth.
“He sent me a message last night saying that perhaps we need to look at advice they give as regard to stopping such developments. “I will be meeting“ George Eustace, hopefully over the next few days, to discuss this further.”
He added: “The problem is the Environment Agency often do not object strongly enough about these proposals.
“That was a very bad decision and I want some good to come out of of it by saying this isn’t good enough, we need to change the policy and and change the strength of the advice on this issue.” Today staff are working around the clock checking drains and defences to try and save the homes from the high river levels which have caused chaos as the Severn travelled through Wales, Shropshire and Worcestershire. And residents are bracing themselves for the High Tides at around 10.30am this morning and 11pm tonight as well has heavy rain.
Twigworth residents protesting outside Tewkesbury Borough Council offices
Nick Green, the flood risk manager for Gloucestershire at the Environment Agency, said the pump was brought in to protect the 55 properties at Alney Island under threat. Further flooding is expected because river levels are unlikely to drop over the weekend.
And there could be another peak to come next week. More rain is due to fall at the head of the Severn in Wales and it takes about five days to work its way down to Gloucester. “We are on top of our game and doing everything necessary to makes sure people are protected,” said an Environment Agency official.
END
Background
21 December 2017 the Secretary of State recommended that the appeal be allowed and outline planning permission be granted for a mixed use development comprising demolition of existing buildings; up to 725 dwellings and a local centre of 0.33 ha.
3 January 2018 - The Planner
Appeal: Sajid Javid approves 2,025 homes despite flood threat
The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, has approved 2,025 homes on former green belt land in Gloucester that was badly flooded in 2007, ruling that environmental concerns were ‘not insurmountable’ and could be mitigated through planning conditions.
Developer Robert Hitchins submitted two parallel applications in July 2015, proposing 1,300 homes in Innsworth, a suburb of Gloucester, and another 725 homes in Twigworth, a village one mile to the north, as well as various ancillary development including schools, community centres and offices. After Tewkesbury Borough Council failed to reach a decision in time,
https://www.theplanner.co.uk/decision/appeal-javid-approves-2025-homes-despite-flood-threat
20 June 2017 - The public local inquiry lasted over 7 days
12 May 2017 - There may or may not be suitable examples of this type of development, but we don’t log this type of thing. Clearly we could help you with advice / design for such situations, though if the site is regularly flooded from river and rainfall, it doesn’t sound like a site which should be being considered for development.
Richard Kellagher, Technical Director, Water Management
Nov 2015 - Plans to build 725 Gloucestershire homes on floodplain at Twigworth branded ridiculous. This area had been taken out of the Joint Core Strategy and was not considered for development. A spokesman for the Boddington-based developers said: “A 32-hectare site in Twigworth has been promoted by Robert Hitchins Ltd through the Joint Core Strategy as an ‘omission site’, suitable for approximately 725 homes.
http://www.southwestbusiness.co.uk/sectors/construction-and-commercial-property/06112015135519-plans-to-build-725-gloucestershire-homes-on-floodplain-at-twigworth-branded-ridiculous/
The JCS has been under preparation since 2008. It was subject to five rounds of consultation prior to submission in November 2014. At the penultimate round of consultation in the autumn of 2013 three of the strategic sites (Twigworth, Innsworth and Ashchurch) were identified as allocations. However, the Twigworth site was dropped as an allocation prior to submission in response to a reduced housing requirement of 30,500 homes over the period 2011 to 2031.
Twigworth Parish Council has been lobbying against this application since summer 2014.
In 2015 Twigworth Parish Council submitted concerns about the inaccuracy of pluvial flood mapping by public agencies in their objection to the planning application to Tewkesbury Borough Council by Robert Hitchins (15/01149/OUT). Twigworth Parish Council has never received a response or acknowledgement from any developer or public agency in relation to this.
