Action to tackle road flooding and runoff

Lib Dem-run Shropshire Council is embarking on a series of initiatives across the county to reduce or eliminate flooding at a number of well-known problem roads.

Lib Dem Councillor Tom Dainty, Deputy Portfolio Holder for Highways, explained, “Flooding on roads not only makes driving dangerous but frequently damages the surface of the road.The changes in our weather patterns over the last decade or so due to climate change has resulted in much greater volumes of water coming onto our highways during adverse weather conditions, especially in the repeated storms we have seen during autumn and winter.

“To combat this Shropshire Council is establishing several local partnerships with landowners and agencies with land adjacent to our highways”.

One early example is in Battlefield, North Shrewsbury where one of the county’s vital routes suffers from excess water on the roads during storms.

Here the Lib Dem-run Shropshire Council has worked with Shropshire Wildlife Trust to implement 23 leaky wood barriers across Battlefield Wetland that will hold back 1690 Cubic Metres of Water, which is 600 cubic metres more than is held in the Quarry swimming pool. The local landowner has said that fields that have always flooded since he was a boy now no longer flood and during high rainfall the water doesn't reach the road. 

Tom concluded, “This project signals a proactive approach to taking control of our highways and dealing with water in a sustainable way. Over the next year will see further projects in rural areas to see if Natural Flood Management can help answer questions regarding flooding that we've struggled with for so long.

“It's important to note that we are working with landowners and farmers, the models we create must fit with their existing business and not destroy productive land.”

These are the thoughts of the new Lib Dem administration, embracing change and new ways to do things, not just presiding over the managed decline of our road network.