£250,000 funding to fix drains and stop flooding on Staffordshire road
A £250,000 flood prevention scheme has been given the go-ahead to tackle problems on a busy town road.
Flooding has become more frequent in Eccleshall in recent years, with community leaders blaming changing as weather patterns change and increasing developments in the town north of Stafford.
The area faced significant floods four times during 2020, but just a decade ago incidents were considered a risk once every hundred years.
Then in January Storm Christoph brought heavy rainfall across Staffordshire and the wider West Midlands, including in Eccleshall. The A519 Newcastle Road and the B5026 Stone Road, two of the town's main routes, both flooded.
Now it is hoped that a new plan to deal with issues on Stone Road, which crosses the River Sow, will make regular flooding a thing of the past.
As well as affecting nearby homes, flooding on Stone Road has caused trouble for Fletcher's Garden Centre and Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre.
Eccleshall councillor Jeremy Pert said that proposals have now been approved by Staffordshire County Council and work is due to begin within the next two months.
The project will involve improving drains, is expected to take six weeks and is due to be completed by the end of June.
Councillor Pert, who sits on both the county and borough councils, added: “Flooding is a pernicious event that leaves those affected wondering every time it rains whether they will be impacted or spared this time around, with those affected picking up the pieces for months afterwards.
“I welcome the Stone Road scheme to directly remove this worry from residents. It has been a long journey to get to this point and I look forward to seeing this scheme implemented over the next couple of months, providing some peace of mind to local residents.
“I also encourage all landowners to play their part in not creating flooding through their actions in the first place, as the impact can be far-reaching.”
Speaking after January’s deluge, borough councillor and Eccleshall Parish Council chairman Peter Jones said flooding on Stone Road was “becoming a regular occurrence anytime we have a bad fall of rain” and “something that used to get called a once in a lifetime event”.
