Proposed housing developments under scrutiny amid Isle of Wight …

The Isle of Wight Green Party councillors have sent letters to the Environment Agency, Southern Water, Island Roads and the IW Council to seek a comprehensive investigation of the recent flooding, and review of the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy.

They have indicated nine starting areas for such a review of Isle of Wight flood risk management, which refers to flooding of areas adjacent to rivers which are also looking at significant housing development in the coming years (Gunville, Sylvan Drive, Monktonmead).

In addition, they say any flood risk review must look at areas away from rivers and the impact on our drinking water supply.

Lowthion: We don’t need an ark – we need a plan!Vix Lowthion ^[1], Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for the new seat of Isle of Wight East said,

“The flooding across the whole island in the last week has devastated homes and businesses and blocked road and rail routes on which islanders rely. As the climate crisis escalates, and we urbanise green fields into housing developments, such flooding events will become increasingly commonplace.

“We need a local strategy to protect property and wildlife habitats, and support islanders who are suffering from the effects of heavy, relentless rainfall.

“All the agencies involved must do a lot better than the last week to limit the destruction caused by flooding, and prepare us better for the scale and impact of the reality of disrupted, erratic weather patterns in the years to come.

“We don’t need an ark – we need a plan!”

Letter to: Isle of Wight Council, Island Roads, Environment Agency and Southern Water

The flooding events across the Isle of Wight on 24^th, 25^th, 28^th and 29^th October have been devastating for many residents, businesses and wildlife – and it is clear that the risks are going to continue throughout the coming days. Whilst we fully support the calls for a Section 19 Flood Investigation, it is unmistakable that these are not isolated events – geographically or historically.

The Isle of Wight seems ill prepared to meet the scale of the weather crises which face us as the climate changes, and we must ramp up our management of these flooding events to protect property, life, infrastructure and our landscape.

Firstly, it’s important to thank everyone – agencies and individuals – who came together to support Islanders who have been suffering from the effects of the significant levels of rainfall in the last week. This includes staff and councillors who have been wading through water and tackling flooding throughout the rainy nights, and the volunteers who have responded to blocked drains and flooded homes by travelling across the Island to support communities in need. We are immensely grateful for the response of the public to help, but the Island’s flood management strategy and protocols cannot rely on the goodwill of volunteers – it has been too sporadic. The efforts of these travelling volunteers indicates that we need any investigation or review to be wide in scope and cover more than a couple of rivers – when the Island is on the brunt of yellow and amber warning levels of rainfall the impact has been Islandwide.

We stress our full support for a formal flood investigation under Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act (2021), but we also call for Island-wide flood risks to be directly addressed urgently in an updated Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (the posted report dates from 2016). Section 19 reviews can focus on specific areas – which for the 2023 flooding events would be Lukely Brook, Gunville Stream and Monktonmead. But the concern for disruption to the water supply for 30,000 homes in South and Central Wight (and the cuts to supply in Ventnor on 28.10.23) signifies an escalation in the impact of flooding events across the Island and beyond water damage to property. In short – we need to be better prepared for floods and heavy rainfall Islandwide and across all agencies in order to have the resilience and capabilities to tackle challenges even greater than we have met before.

In addition to the Section 19 river investigations, we call for an improved local flood risk management strategy which:

stresses the importance of regular maintenance and clearing of gutters, ditches and drains (both by Island Roads and private landowners)
identifies the areas which need improvements in drainage infrastructure (eg outside St Marys) to prevent a recurrence of the worst of the flooding experienced in October 2023
works with landowners to provide ditches and drainage all year round, particularly with land adjacent to housing
increases the capacity and availability of sandbags to the public, ensuring that they are placed close to the areas most vulnerable to flooding of properties (eg Gunville)
collates information for residents experiencing a flooding emergency (eg manned phone lines, leaflets/ graphics to share)
raises the minimum drainage levels required in our planning strategy for new developments to meet the challenges from weather in the 21st century – Gunville, Sylvan Drive and Monktonmead all experienced some of the worst flooding, and all have significant housing developments in the planning.
reviews planned housing developments in these areas – water courses such as Lukely Brook and Gunville Stream are directly impacted by urban run off and in the light of the October 2023 flooding the suitability of these sites should be reviewed.
reviews the Climate Emergency motion from 2019 to assess what has been met and any updates and additional measures which need to be taken to mitigate the increasing problems we face as a direct result of the climate crisis.
Investigates the measures needed to ensure that no homes lose access to a safe water supply during flooding events

We are proud of our Island status, but it presents a challenge at times of crisis. All the climate evidence points towards an increase in significant flooding events on the scale of October 2023 in the years ahead. We need a flood management strategy which is fit to meet these demands, and every agency needs to play their full part.

Best regards, Isle of Wight Green Party

Councillors Lever (Carisbrooke and Gunville) and Critchison (Chale, Niton & Shorwell) Councillor Lowthion (Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council) Councillor Palin (East Cowes Town Council)

References

^{^} Vix Lowthion (onthewight.com)