Flood-hit Tenbury Wells welcomes £100k prevention scheme

Laura Jones, from Rainbow Crafts, approved of the Tenbury Wells scheme

A flood prevention system to protect a town centre has been welcomed by residents.

Worcestershire County Council will spend about £100,000 on the project in Market Street, Tenbury Wells, which regularly floods.

The scheme will involve a sump which draws water from the road and then a pump to take it into the Kier Brook.

Work was due to start at the end of next month and would take two weeks to complete.

County councillor David Chambers, who represents Tenbury said: "For something that is a relatively small project, this will have a huge impact."

The project was also welcomed by some businesses in the town.

Councillor David Chambers said the work would make a big difference to Tenbury

Laura Jones, who runs Rainbow Crafts in Market Street, said: "It's going the right way I think, because it is the brook and the surface water, which is our biggest concern.

"We do get the river flooding up here, but not as much."

She opened the shop a couple of months ago, just before the most recent floods, and added: "We were literally just stood outside watching it come down the road."

Claire Dubelly, from Marilyn Womenswear, said the flooding in the town "has a huge impact because of all the costs involved with putting things right, with the shops having to pump out their cellars and the loss of business."

'Our most complex scheme'

The Market Street sump will not be the only defence scheme for Tenbury Wells with another £5m allocated for wider work to protect the town.

Harriett Baldwin, the MP for West Worcestershire, said she was pushing the Environment Agency (EA) to submit a planning application for the additional flood defences.

Speaking to the BBC, she said: "Progress is being made and I am hoping after my meeting with the Environment Agency later this week that they will press ahead and get in a planning application this year.

"I know how badly people in Tenbury want to see this scheme built."

A spokesperson for the EA said it was in the process of getting a contractor to deliver the work.

Construction was expected to start this spring or summer but they added: "This is our most complex scheme in the West Midlands due to the area's heritage, history and environment and the close proximity to the church graveyard."