Grange Golf Club affected by ongoing flooding on Meathop Road
Meathop Road connects Meathop along the railway embankment along the coast and has been subject to flooding intermittently for over a decade.
Three cars missed the road and ended up in the stream that runs parallel recently, said Leslie Micklethwaite, a director of the club.
He said the flooding was ‘worse than ever before’ and was now ‘becoming uneconomic for the club to continue’.
He said: “Ten years ago, there were 800 members at the club, but now there is just over 300. Financially it becomes not a viable proposition.
“If you can’t provide reliability for people, especially if they can go only play on a weekend, then I don’t think the club will continue. It needs resolving but there is no magic wand and not an overnight solution.”
Grange[1] Golf Club has a permit to excavate silt from the outfall of Seldom Seen Culvert, under J T Atkinson Builders’ Merchant, out into Morecambe Bay for a distance of 30 metres, once a year until 2027.
The club has applied to the Environment Agency (EA) to vary this permit further to allow it to form a channel from the outfall of Seldom Seen Culvert to the River Kent in the bay.
Mr Micklethwaite explained: “The biggest problem is there is too much sand and silt in Morecambe Bay. The bay is a site of special scientific interest so it’s not easy to get access onto the foreshore to keep them clear.
“Nobody will accept full responsibility for it. It’s platitudes all the time and never actions which is really frustrating.
“We haven’t been able to access the golf club for the last three weeks.
“If the two outlets were working to how they were designed to be then there wouldn’t be the accumulation of water there is. Water would fall and it would discharge into the bay.”
The EA said it carried out extensive repairs to part of the River Winster flood embankment in 2022. During this time they also installed a new headwall structure and flap valve, as well as carrying out channel maintenance on Meathop Road Drain.
The EA say when the River Winster rises in periods of very wet weather, it causes the non-return flap to close, which results in water from Meathop Road Drain not being able to flow into the River Winster.
This, they say, consequently causes the flooding to Meathop Road.
The EA also say that the River Winster is not discharging water into the bay effectively via the Seldom Seen culvert because of shifting sands and sediment in Morecambe Bay.
An EA spokesperson said: “We recognise the issue at Meathop Road and understand the concern this is causing local residents.
“We are continuing to work with the local community and organisations to try and improve the situation and find a sustainable solution to this complex issue.”
Cumbrian MP Tim Farron said: “The regular flooding on Meathop Road is devastating to the livelihoods of residents, business owners and farmers and their families.
“I share the immense frustrations of local residents. We are all fed up of agencies and organisations passing the buck and failing to shoulder responsibility for dealing with this.
“That’s why I am I’m urging the Environment Agency, DEFRA, the Council and Network Rail to work together to find and fund a solution.”