I AM writing in response to the letter from Simon Bull regarding the flash flood in Winton on Thursday night last week.

At the start, I should make it clear that Cllr Bull has not raised these issues with me previously, and I am not aware that he has done so within the Council Members’ Flood Advisory Group or the appropriate Overview & Scrutiny Panel. I have been in touch with the council’s flooding and drainage manager, who is a specialist in his field, to obtain the technical position and the specific details of what actually occurred last Thursday night.

Given that information, I do not accept that water damage in this case could have been prevented by the council, nor that there are quick, easy or affordable solutions. However, council officers continue to be closely engaged in work in this area, together with Wessex Water staff.

Firstly some details about the rain on the Thursday night. The Town Hall rain gauge measured some 50.8mm of rain in three hours on Thursday night. The average rainfall for September is 65.7mm so we had three quarters of a month’s rain in those three hours.

However, between 1am and 1.10am – i.e. in just 10 minutes – we had 11.6mm of rain or nearly half an inch. That’s one sixth of a month’s rainfall in just 10 minutes. Any drainage system in the world would struggle with that intensity of rain.

There is no natural drainage in the form of streams in this area of Winton and so all drainage is ultimately carried by the piped sewerage system.

As one of the oldest parts of Bournemouth, outside the original town centre, it is still largely served by a combined sewerage system which has evolved over at least 100 years; and the town has experienced considerable growth in that time.

This is not unique to Bournemouth but you just need to see recent press reports of flash flooding across the country to realise this is a common urban problem, but often very localised.

There simply isn’t a quick and easy solution to prevent flooding.

One point that is usually raised is the cleaning of gullies, which in Bournemouth are dealt with on a routine basis.

After the weather warnings we received earlier on the Thursday, the council sent out the street cleaning teams and updated the clearance of as many high risk areas as possible.

However, storms of this intensity bring down a great deal of debris and wash material off other privately-owned land, all of which ends up in the gullies.

I can assure the residents and businesses in Winton that these issues are receiving proper attention from the Council, but the options are limited and often very expensive.

JOHN BEESLEY

Leader of Bournemouth council

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