A LOCAL councillor has called for action after the River Frome burst its banks last month and left motorists waiting for emergency services to rescue them from the floodwater.
District councillor for Frome College Ward, Adam Boyden, has said more needs to be done to protect the town after Storm Katie flooded the Wallbridge area on Easter Monday.
Cllr Boyden said, “The river burst its banks and flooded the Wallbridge and New Road junction for a few hours; a few cars got stuck or broke down, and most drivers had to go another way round until the fire service came.
“The flooding of the A362 and New Road at Wallbridge seems to be happening every year or two now, which shows the need for a flood alleviation scheme to fully protect the town from storm floods which are only going to get worse due to climate change.
“I understand there is some money put aside by the Environment Agency, but not enough to actually do anything. Such a scheme will need more funding, possibly from developers or the new Somerset Rivers Authority.
“There was little disruption to people only because the storm happened the night before a bank holiday – many more people would have been disrupted if it had been a working day.
“Councillor Alvin Horsfall has raised questions at Mendip District Council meetings about how much assistance Frome will get from the new Somerset Rivers Authority, which we are all paying towards in our council tax this year.
“Somerset didn’t get any funding from central government in the same way that other counties have this year, as Government funding was just for the initial problems on the Levels. Other counties affected two years ago have ongoing funding. This needs investigating further.”
Environment Agency flood risk advisor, John Southwell said, “Flood alleviation options for the Wallbridge area of Frome are currently under consideration as part of our ongoing capital investment programme to 2021.
“A preliminary investigation was recently completed by us to identify any potential solutions for reducing the depth and frequency of the recurring flooding and it is clear that we will need to work closely with other professional partners, such as Somerset County Highways, to assess what level of flood risk improvement can be physically achieved, funded, and possibly delivered here.”
A spokesperson for Mendip District Council told Frome Times, “Working in conjunction with Somerset County Council and The Environment Agency, we have secured significant funding from the developer of the proposed new housing at Southfield Farm in order to undertake flood studies and flow modelling to alleviate the historic flooding problems at Wallbridge.
“Following on from this, the newly-created Somerset Rivers Authority will work with all affected bodies to deliver any scheme recommendations on the ground.”
