Floods 2024: Green Park village ground works could have contributed to village flooding

Network Rail says ground works around the Green Park village area could have made recent flooding worse.

Locals have pointed the finger at both West Berkshire Council and the railways for not maintaining culverts which drain away water.

But Network Rail says the culverts were working, but that ground water had backed up.

“On Friday, January 5, West Berkshire local authority made us aware of a blocked culvert that runs adjacent to Reading Green Park Station that had reportedly caused flooding to local homes and an electrical substation,” said a Network Rail spokesperson.

“Our drainage inspector visited the site the same day and found the water level of the inlet and the outlet of the culvert under water were approximately the same height on both sides, which meant the culvert was was working as designed.

“The problem was identified further downstream which was causing the water to back up to the culvert and flood the upstream side.

“The whole area to the east of the Basingstoke and Reading line has been significantly altered over the last decade with extensive land raising undertaken within the Green Park village area, and the infilling and capping of the landfill site to the north.

“This will have impacted on the emergence of groundwater across the catchment.

“We’re really sorry that some residents in the Pingewood area have been impacted by flooding and we’d like to reassure residents that we are working closely with West Berkshire Council, Reading Borough Council and Green Park to understand how the flow of water through the watercourse to the east can be improved and any future flooding prevented.”

A report called ‘River Kennet Flooding at Pingewood – A Bad Situation Made Worse’ claims both the council and Network Rail failed to learn the lessons from the 2014 floods and ensure that floodwater was able to escape to the east underneath the Basingstoke to Reading railway line rather than backing up and flooding premises and homes.

RDAA president and former Reading West MP Martin Salter, together with RDAA fisheries officer Del Shackleford, had been pressing both West Berkshire Council and Network Rail to clear the culvert the week before the river levels rose.

The council wrote back claiming that the river levels were unlikely to exceed the 2014 heights – in fact they have set a new record – and Network Rail claimed that the culvert was clear despite the fact that photographs, video and drone footage shows it to be blocked.