Scheme looks to reduce surface water flooding risk in parts of Maidenhead

A flood alleviation scheme project for parts of Maidenhead is looking to reduce the risk of surface water flooding to homes and infrastructure.

The Brill Close Flood Alleviation Scheme is being undertaken by the Royal Borough’s flooding team, in a bid to lessen surface water flood risk to homes and infrastructure in the Cox Green and Oldfield wards.

A project to devise a scheme was identified after incidents of localised flooding to homes in both wards in 2007 and 2016, as stated on the RBWM Together website.

The flooding in the area is down to a large built-up catchment ‘being drained by limited pipework with much of the flow going through the same Thames Water drain’.

Due to this, the pipe’s capacity is exceeded quickly meaning there is ‘limited’ ability for the area to drain water away.

Proposals for the scheme look to install two surface water attenuation basins at Desborough Park.

The basins are depressed areas within the ground which store water for a short period during storms and will be dry when not in use.

They will take rainwater from the Thames Water pipe and store it during a storm, before releasing it slowly back into the pipe.

There is also the possibility to let some of the water soak into the ground, lessening the total amount of water flowing through the pipework.

The park has been chosen as the proposed location for the work because a large space is needed to store large amounts of surface water.

There were plans to locate the basins in areas that are not currently being utilised for ‘organised recreation’.

The exact sizing and the shapes will be confirmed after design work.

The scheme ultimately looks to remove some of the water from the pipe and temporarily store it to ‘ease capacity issues within the pipe’ during storms, which will in turn lessen the risk of flooding to homes and infrastructure.

As part of the work on the project, the council’s design contractors will be carrying out ground investigation works from next Monday (September 9).

The works will feature a topographic survey (identifying features about the area of land) and infiltration testing (which measures the rate at which water can penetrate into the ground), to confirm the viability of soakage to get rid of water in the basin.  

The infiltration testing will include digging pits where the basins are being proposed, filling them with water and monitoring the rate of the soakage into the ground.

The work will take place over the course of a week, but this may be shorter depending on the results.

During the testing, the pits will be fenced off and monitored.

The design work will start after the ground investigation.

After the completion of the preliminary designs, the authority will look to engage with residents and those interested in the scheme in the first quarter of next year, before taking on feedback to incorporate into the final detailed design work.

Those wishing to ask any questions for find out more can do so by contacting the flooding team at: flooding.enquiries@rbwm.gov.uk