Businesses 'living on knife edge' over floods

Businesses under water at the site of the Maulden Garden Centre

Businesses estimate that flooding has caused more than £300,000 worth of damage to their premises.

Tenants on the site of the Maulden Garden Centre, Clophill, Bedfordshire, claim they have been flooded at least three times this year.

The site, which is on a floodplain and backs on to the River Flit, has various businesses on it, which include a car dealership, construction company, recycling, storage units and doggy day care centre.

Central Bedfordshire Council said the ditch running along the boundary with the A507 is its responsibility and other ditches around the site are the responsibility of private landowners.

Catriona Wisniewski, who runs a doggy day care business on the site, said she "could cry"

The local internal drainage board confirmed it looked after other ditches and also claimed the landowner was responsible for some, too, which he disputes.

Catriona Wisniewski, who runs The Dog House with her daughter, said the flooding had been devastating for them and their customers.

She said their business, which provides day care for dogs from Monday to Friday, was flooded in January when they were decorating and designing the premises at a cost of more than £50,000.

Since opening fully in April, Ms Wisniewski said they had been flooded twice and that it was "having a huge financial and emotional effect" on them.

She added they were "living on a knife edge", wondering if it would happen again every time it rained.

Kyle Nester, 35, runs the Maulden Garden Centre

Kyle Nester, who runs the garden centre, said they had suffered three or four floods since opening in April last year.

"[Each time] we lose pretty much everything and have to start again," he explained.

Mr Nester said the future of the business was "not sustainable" and he was worried he would not be able to stay open.

Both Ms Wisniewski and Mr Nester said they would like some answers as to why their business premises keep flooding.

They claim that when they contacted Central Bedfordshire Council, they were "passed from pillar to post", and no one had any answers. The council has not responded to this.

The Bedfordshire and River Ivel Internal Drainage Board said the garden centre was situated entirely within the floodplain of the River Flit, which made it vulnerable to flood.

A spokesperson said: "The flood risk to the site was known at the planning stage, and the Board objected to the development because of this.

"The landowner has primary responsibility for the watercourses running through or adjacent to their property."

The landowner Peter Scott has denied that he was responsible for the ditches, or watercourses. He is currently in dispute with the Internal Drainage Board and Central Bedfordshire Council.

Mr Scott told the BBC that when the council granted him full planning permission for the site in 2012, that “there was no mention of the owners being responsible for the River Flit or its adjoining ditches which belong to Bedfordshire highways”.

The council said that it would be expected that the developer mitigates against flooding in how the property is built and maintained.

“Flooding is having a devastating impact on hundreds of residents and businesses across Central Bedfordshire due to the record-breaking amounts of rain so far this month - we saw up to two months' worth of rainfall in a day," said a council spokesperson.

“Our priority at the moment is to continue to work around the clock with emergency services and volunteers to respond to flooding.”