Sports club told flood damage will cost £1m to fix

The extent of the damage caused to the outside tennis courts

A squash and tennis club has been told damage caused by flooding during Storm Babet will cost £1m to repair.

Nigel Williams, from the Duffield Tennis and Squash club, said it suffered a "catastrophic loss of five squash courts and seven carpeted tennis courts" after flooding on 21 October.

Mr Williams said it could bankrupt the club if it flooded again.

The Environment Agency said: "Teams worked around the clock to minimise the impacts of flooding where possible."

It added: "During Storm Babet we saw the highest river levels on record for our gauge on the River Ecclesbourne, surpassing those seen in 2020.

"Unfortunately to date we have records of 36 properties that have been impacted by flooding in Duffield which include internal flooding of people's homes."

Mr Williams said the club was under just over a metre of water externally and 230mm internally across the entire ground floor.

He said the flooding took "everybody by surprise" rising about "three metres in about five hours".

'Totally wrecked'

Nigel Williams said there had been a tennis club on the site since 1882 and had never flooded until recently

All seven of the club's "championship standard" tennis courts were destroyed by the floods, which have been covered by insurance.

He said: "Tennis is all outside courts so we had to the strip the carpets off, which had it rucked up like a beach. They were all removed. We have been playing on tarmac now."

Mr Williams said there was about 3,000 tonnes of water on the outside tennis courts.

The extent of the damage to the carpeted tennis courts

"Internally the wooden squash court floors were totally wrecked, you could have almost cried," he said.

"We were helpless, as soon as the club flooded we locked it up and left."

He said squash players had not played since the flood but hoped to play again by the end of February.

"Our longest-serving member has been there 62 years and it has never flooded in that time," he added.

Mr Williams said the flood lifted the felt floor like "it was a sheet of silk"

Mr Williams said all of his squash courts located inside the building were under nine inches of water.

He added for the past 12 weeks, he has had workers in to professionally dry the building to be able to start "rebuilding" the club and the squash courts.

"We got the dryness certificate last week so we are now able to rebuild, which is fabulous news," he said.

The squash courts being dried out after the flood

Mr Williams attended an event, hosted by the Environment Agency and Derbyshire County Council, on Monday in Belper about how to prevent flooding in future.

The Environment Agency said it gained "vital" information from residents during the event.

Mr Williams said: "We now can't get flood insurance.

"We are starting to actively modify the outer skin of the building, so that if it does flood, it won't get in very easily.

"Without insurance, this becomes a very serious consideration. It could bankrupt us if this repeats again."

The Environment Agency has already built a flood wall, which runs around the back of the club, which was where the river flowed into the outdoor tennis courts.

It said replacing or raising flood defences would cost "millions of pounds" and was something that "could not be achieved quickly".

On improving the flood wall at the back of the club to prevent future floods, the agency said: "We will test different options within the hydrologic model to understand any potential impact of raising walls around the club.

"We understand the town is keen to develop a flood plan and we will work with the parish council on this. For those affected in October, grants are being made available, managed by Derbyshire County Council, for property flood resilience."