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Funding secured for first flood prevention basin in Cold Ash





West Berkshire Council is working on the final design for a series of basins in Cold Ash Hill that store floodwater and release it at a rate with which water courses and sewers can cope.
Now the scheme has been awarded £700,000 from the Environment Agency to construct the first of these basins later this year.
Funding has been topped up by £40,000 from Thatcham Town Council, £5,000 from Cold Ash Parish Council, and £45,000 West Berkshire Council.
Thatcham mayor John Boyd, who was a town councillor when the district was flooded in 2007, said that this could only be a good thing for the town.
He said: “When we had the Pitt report following the floods, it identified that Thatcham was flooded by water coming from the north of the town, so if an attenuation pond is being placed around the town, that will hold the flood water and release it slowly.
“This sort of money, for a lot of people in Thatcham, will help them realise the work that has been going on.
“I believe that Thatcham [has become] a much safer place [since] the floods and that’s a testament to Thatcham Town Council, the Flood Forum and [West Berkshire Council principal engineer] Stuart Clark for listening to the concerns and being a bit more proactive.
“The attenuation pond will be a visual reassurance for the people of Thatcham.”
As part of the Thatcham surface water management plan, completed in 2010, West Berkshire Council’s continuing work on flood prevention in the area will include building a number of these detention basins in the town.
Preliminary designs for one in Tull Way are under way, and later in the year work plans will start for another in Dunstan Park.
The initial designs will provide information needed to submit bids for government grants to fund their construction.
The executive member for emergency planning, Pamela Bale (Con, Pangbourne), said: “The council is working hard to achieve what was set out in the surface water management plan.
“A programme of grant applications is well under way, with designs and construction due to be completed by 2020.
“A great deal of work has already been completed and the programme of improvement is ongoing.”
The need for a prevention scheme in Cold Ash Hill came about after severe floods in 2007, when more than 1,100 homes in the area were flooded.



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