Group's crusade to improve town's flood defences

Sarah Hobbs set up Pointon Emergency Group to prepare the village for future floods

A village that suffered devastating flooding last year is now better prepared thanks to the efforts of a community group.

Pointon was one of several places in Lincolnshire that was flooded in January 2024, leading 62-year-old Sarah Hobbs to rally her neighbours to create an emergency flood plan for the village.

Ms Hobbs said the group found maintenance of the relief ditches, installed in the 1980s, had been stopped, leaving them blocked and unable to drain floodwater.

South Kesteven District Council has been contacted for comment.

Ms Hobbs is one of about 20 members of the Pointon Emergency Group, who got together to explore ways of preventing future flooding damage.

"The village was flooded with surface water coming down the hill into the village and a number of houses were flooded," she said.

"We realised that we didn't have a plan in place. People didn't know why it was happening."

It was here when the group said it discovered maintenance of the relief ditches had been cut.

"When you get a really bad rainstorm, the water can't go down the course that's supposed to take it away from the houses, it takes it towards the houses," Ms Hobbs added.

"What should have happened is the authorities should make sure that the ditches are clear, that the drains are clear and that the flow is the best that it can be."

When flooding hit in January last year, several homes were left damaged and unfit for families to live in.

Homes in the village were flooded in January 2024 when the county suffered heavy rainfall

Ms Hobbs said the drain and ditch clearance was only carried out in the last two months, thanks to the group's efforts in speeding up the process.

"I don't think that we would be as far along with things if we hadn't done what we have done."

The group worked with Lincolnshire Resilience Forum to put a plan in place in case floods hit the village again.

They set up an emergency WhatsApp group and have set up a hub at the village hall, stocked with walkie-talkies, sandbags, flood signs, torches and other supplies.

Ms Hobbs said one of the biggest things to come out of the group had been the "community cohesion".

"There's a bigger sense of community as a result of something bad happening, which is really nice," she added.

Kimberley Pickett, community resilience officer from Lincolnshire County Council's emergency planning team, said: "This is a fantastic example of local people working together to make their community more resilient."

Ms Hobbs recently won the Individual 2025 Good Citizens Award for her volunteering.

"It's nice to be recognised," she said.

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