Angry residents call for action to stop flooding in Wraysbury

Angry residents accused Windsor and Maidenhead council of ‘broken promises’ and criticised the Environment Agency (EA) for a lack of action tackling flooding during a fiery public meeting.

Villagers packed into Wraysbury Village Hall on Tuesday evening to discuss the major flooding which impacted the area at the start of January.

Representatives from the Royal Borough, Environment Agency and Thames Water faced questions over what steps will be taken to protect the village from further flooding chaos.

Dave Francis, lead flood warden for the Wraysbury Flood Team, told the meeting: “For years and years the village has been forgotten, neglected and abandoned by the powers above.

“To have four floods in 21 years just goes to show how it needs to stop right now.”

He added: “The powers above have been talking the talk for decades and now it’s long time they walk the walk.

“From broken promises by the borough with regards to the unblocking of the Wraysbury Drain and the withdrawal of our village from the River Thames Scheme.”

A car submerged by floodwater at The Green, Wraysbury.

The River Thames Scheme is a multi-million pound project, overseen by the Environment Agency, which will see the construction of a flood channel alongside the River Thames.

The previously planned Channel One, covering Datchet and Wraysbury, will not take place after the borough’s previous Conservative administration failed to stump up a £53million contribution towards the project.

Members of the public called for Channel One of the project to be reinstated and criticised the Environment Agency for its lack of work over recent years to protect Wraysbury from flooding.

Parish councillor Darren Laverty said: “We’ve been suffering now for 20 years. We’ve been flooded four times. But what has physically been done to reduce the flood risk in Wraysbury?”

Joe Cuthbertson, from the Environment Agency, responded: “In terms of a physical flood alleviation scheme, you don’t need me to tell you there isn’t one at this stage.

“I’m sorry to say there is never a silver bullet for flood risk issues. We are trying to work with partners to look at what options there are.”

Mr Cuthbertson also faced questions on what impact the Jubilee River flood prevention scheme, which protects properties in Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton, has on communities downstream such as Wraysbury and Datchet.

He responded: “The Jubilee River is designed to take the water that is coming down the Thames and provide additional capacity in the areas around Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton to reduce the risk of flooding to around 3,000 homes in that area.

“We don’t build flood alleviation schemes which increase flood risk to others.”

Members of the public also called for an increase in dredging to help reduce the flood risk in Wraysbury as well as action from the council to tackle blockages at Wraysbury Drain.

Chris Joyce, who oversees the borough’s emergency planning unit, said: “Provided we’re not talking about large figures, we have the money in the budget to do some of those works.”

Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury councillor Ewan Larcombe, who has been campaigning on flooding issues for more than three decades, rounded off the meeting by urging villagers to rally together to demand action over Wraysbury’s flood woes.

He said: “It’s people power now. Mr Bates (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) has showed us what can be done. We need to focus and if you’re all pulling in the same direction you can expose these people for what they are.

“The priority has to be the Wraysbury Drain. It won’t take much in terms of effort or money to put it right.”