New £1.2m flood defence for Thatcham taking shape
Materials for new bund north of Tull Way set to arrive
A NEW £1.2m flood defence scheme in Thatcham will begin to take shape soon as material for a new dry reservoir begins arriving at the site.
The new bund will be built north of Tull Way and be capable of holding excess water, which it will then release at a rate with which local drains can cope.
From next week, material will begin to arrive, with lorries expected to make around six trips an hour during off-peak, daylight hours.
It will take around three months to deliver all the material – a special clay/gravel mix – needed for the flood defence.
West Berkshire Council says the new scheme will help protect the town from flooding, which previously occurred when surface water sewers couldn’t cope with the amount of water running down from land north of the town.
Speaking about the scheme, the council’s executive member for highways, Garth Simpson (Con, Cold Ash), said: “This new scheme will be a significant asset to the town and will reduce the risk of flooding for many local residents.
“Throughout the scheme a priority for us has been to preserve the local area as much as we can and, once completed, the bank will be landscaped and the area returned to fields.
“We’re continuing to work with our communities to introduce additional protections against flooding.
“This is the second flood scheme in the area with others to follow over the next four years and all of which have been identified as necessary by a surface water action plan agreed in 2010.”
The council says that during the winter months it will be too wet to build the defence, but work will instead start in the spring and take around six months to complete.
In the meantime, the material will be stored in fields above Tull Way with lorries entering the site via a lane opposite Bowling Green Road.
The material for the scheme will come from AWE.
AWE is currently excavating a huge amount of soil in Burghfield as part of its own flood defence scheme so their excavated soil, which they don’t need, will be delivered to Thatcham, rather than taken to landfill miles away.
The scheme has been paid for by a grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and a small contribution from West Berkshire Council.
