Call for clearer flood management after devastation

A man whose home was deluged with foul water in a flash-flood partially caused by an illegal development has called for "clear management" to prevent future issues.

About 130 homes in Attleborough, Norfolk, were damaged during Storm Babet in October 2023, with an investigation finding the several contributory factors included a temporary road that blocked a stream.

Some residents were forced to move out for up to a year while their properties were repaired, including father-of-six Paul Hunter, of Mill Lane.

"We need a long-term solution in Attleborough, not just to prevent this event but to look at the water management in the catchment," he said.

"This [road] was built without permission – why? That's the concern."

The recently published report found the road that did not have planning consent at the 165-home Gables housing development off Norwich Road caused problems during heavy rainfall on already saturated ground.

Combined with an overwhelmed network struggling with silted-up, debris-filled culverts and high water downstream, it led to flooding in nearby streets.

"I stood in the living room watching the water come in, thinking 'What can I salvage?'" recalled Hunter.

"Ultimately, the big furniture, you can't salvage that. It's the personal stuff, the photos.

"It was devastating. We were losing things around us. We thought the whole house would be flooded, and [we worried] what the outcome would be."

He said Norfolk County Council's report into the flood, and work carried out since, allayed "panic every time it rains", but he said more needed to be done.

Various bodies have a responsibility for water and flooding, including internal drainage boards, the Environment Agency, water companies, councils, landowners and developers.

"Is there a body that can over-arch this management?" asked Hunter.

"Let's look at it with a bigger view, and that's where we can drive it and have a clear management of decisions."

Breckland Council and Attleborough Town Council member Taila Taylor, a Conservative, said she hoped work already carried out would "significantly reduce" the risk of further flooding.

"There is still more that can be done, long term, to make sure this doesn't happen again," she said.

"In Norfolk alone, there are more than 30 agencies that share responsibility for this, or for the funding.

"It makes it very easy for the buck to be passed and, ultimately, no response. It needs to be made much simpler."

Mark Ogden is the flood and water manager at Norfolk County Council, which is the local flood authority.

Councils, Anglian Water and others had cleared at least 80 tonnes of debris from the water course and culvert since October 2023, he said.

A "trash screen" had been added to prevent debris entering the culvert.

"We've done an awful lot of work to make the system work properly there," he said.

"We also recommend to developers that they put in a construction surface water management plan to mitigate the risk of flooding while construction is under way."

He admitted that much of the old infrastructure was not built to deal with "extreme flood events", and was very difficult and expensive to change.

"The system is not working as well as we'd want it to [but] it's properly maintained now, which is a great help, and it will be easier to maintain in the future."

He said he would like to see more funding for schemes which hold up the water, slow down the flow and reduce flooding.

"Rules for central government funding are changing in April, so we are hopeful that that will mean more schemes are implemented and we can deliver more on the ground," he added.

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