Enborne River Valley Preservation Society raise flooding concerns in regards to 270 home Wash Water plans

Enborne residents are concerned that their houses could flood if plans for a 270-home development in Wash Water are given the go ahead.

The Enborne River Valley Preservation Society, a residents group which is opposed to the plans, is worried that the development would be built on an area of land that is crucial to the area’s fragile ecosystem.

The 270-home development, titled Watermill Bridge and submitted by Bewley Homes, would be built in a triangle of land between the A34 and the A343 and below the Wash Water road if approved.

Enborne River Valley Preservation Society member John May said: “The issue for us is flooding. We live in a balanced ecosystem down here, which protects us and it has protected us for several hundred years.

“Now they want to disturb all that in a way that defies all common sense.”

The Enborne area is notably susceptible to flooding, with gardens located just north of the River Enborne regularly filling with water during periods of heavy rainfall in the winter.

Enborne River Valley Preservation Society chairman Chris Garrett and Mr May both live on the south side of the Wash Water road and fear that the new development would see their houses flood as well.

They stated that the field on which Bewley wants to build provides relief for when the area floods.

The group believes that the new development would eradicate a significant area of land that soaks up excess water that runs off the Enborne area, causing flood levels to rise and properties to be at risk.

Mr May said: “My problem is that they will disturb the natural balance that currently protects us, and which lets that water flow out on to that field.

“You don’t have a valid objection if you don’t want a development behind your garden; it doesn’t make any difference. But it does make a difference if my house floods.”

Mr Garrett claimed that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Bewley have only considered the possibility of surface water flooding and fluvial flooding from the River Enborne, while ignoring the risk of groundwater flooding.

He said: “Nobody is looking at the whole thing as a dynamic, interrelated system.

“You can’t say that surface flooding doesn’t affect groundwater flooding. You can’t say that groundwater flooding doesn’t affect surface flooding.

“If the river is up, then the groundwater has nowhere to go so it’s going to back up. If the groundwater is down and the river is up then there is somewhere for the river water to go.

"They’re all interrelated.”

The society also claimed that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council hadn’t carried out a sequential test, an exercise that ensures development is sited on land that has the lowest risk of flooding within the council’s area.

Mr Garrett said: “If it’s got to be built then that’s okay, but please follow the procedures, do the planning properly and don’t take shortcuts.”