Council to target Dudley flooding hotspots

A £150,000 scheme to constuct a new culvert through the rear gardens of 25 properties in Lea Vale Road in Norton will start in October.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, cabinet member for transport, said council had secured Government cash for the work and would be looking to see what funding they could get to help other areas prone to flooding.

The project in Norton also includes the construction of a flood water retention pool at Stourbridge Golf Club designed to hold water back during storms.

Talks have been taking place with residents and the golf club to find a suitable solution and consultation events were held earlier this year.

The scheme aims to protect homes after gardens were flooded during extreme weather in December 2013 and January years.

Councillor Ahmed said: "I am delighted the council has been successful in securing the funding and we are grateful to the residents who have been fantastic in helping to agree the best solution to resolve the issue.

"We will continue to seek other funding streams through central government so we are in a position to carry out works at any other high flood-risk areas in the borough in the future."

Preliminary work to create the flood pool is set to start at the golf club in mid-September.

The proposals were supported by the golf club, residents and the trustees of Old Swinford Hospital School who are the owners of a major part of the land.

It comes as work nears an end on a £120,000 scheme aimed at halting flood misery for residents in Kingswinford.

Back gardens at homes in Buckingham Grove have been flooded for several years by the nearby Dawley Brook.

Walls boarding the water way have become blocked due to pieces of brickwork coming away and foliage building up.

But now a six-week project is being carried out by Severn Trent Water and the Environment Agency to bring an end to the problem.

Sections of the walls have started to break down and fall into the brook itself leading to concerns over its ability to cope in heavy rain.

Workers from the water company have been called in to takeover the scheme after it emerged one of its drains empties into the brook.

Work to replace the damaged wall, which will protect the homes from flooding for years to come will be finished by the end of September.

Severn Trent Water engineer, Mark Gibbons, said the firm will be able to limit disruption to the public as works will be taking place mainly in back gardens of properties.