Vital plan to protect 'anxious' community from flood risk backed

A vital plan to protect a community that gets 'anxious every time it rains' from flooding has been backed.

The first two phases of the flood alleviation scheme for Feniton were completed back in 2016, but numerous delays have since beset the project.

East Devon District Council's cabinet on Wednesday night backed a timetable for the remaining two phases of work, even though there was a potential £2m funding gap.

Phase 3, which requires an undertrack crossing of the Exeter to Waterloo rail line, will now take place in May during a planned 52 hour weekend track closure.

Phase 4, the construction of the remaining culverted sections of the scheme, is set to follow in the summer of 2021, to enable sufficient time for further Government grants to be secured.

Andrew Hancock, Service Lead for StreetScene, told Wednesday's meeting that discussions with the Environment Agency have been very positive.

He said that they had confirmed that additional funding for phase 3 had been secured and they were confident that resubmitting the economic case for phase 4 which included house price rises and the damage occurred to the railway due to flooding events was a method they had previously accepted to a scheme in Whimple.

Mr Hancock said: "There is no guarantee but it is a very good signal they want to get this done."

His report added: "This project will benefit more than 70 properties in Feniton as well as providing relief from the anxiety of the ever present flood risk.

"Much time and effort has gone into securing the May 2020 undertrack crossing, and delaying this will add additional cost to the project.

"There are no other possession dates available in 2020, and dates for 2021 have not yet been planned.

"The risk to EDDC is that Phase 3 is built, and if Phase 4 is not funded, the project has wasted £770,000 for an unconnected culvert under the railway, and offering no flood risk reduction to Feniton."

The original total project cost was £1.7m but as a result of the years of delays, the revised total project cost is £3.7m, the cabinet were warned that there was a high level of risk attached to the project.

But Cllr Susie Bond, who represents the Feniton ward, said that is a huge relief that the Environment Agency had given their seal of approval and are on board with the process.

She said: "Communities at risk of flooding will be helped. If we don't get phase the 3 done, and then the properties upstream of phase 1 and 2 will still be at risk. I urge you to approve the recommendation."

Cllr Ian Thomas, portfolio holder for finance, added: "It is a high risk and I don't like that taking indicative promises from government as a promise for investment. We are between a rock and a hard place. If we don't do it, there could be continued flooding of properties. If we do it, we could have a £1.4m funding gap.

"But I think we have to complete the lot. Hopefully the money will be recovered, but if not, we have to adjust the capital funding program elsewhere. We have to take a punt but if only three out of four are funded, it becomes a very expensive hole to fill."

Cllr Kevin Blakey added: "The damage to the fabric of community as a whole is something we have to take into account, and something that could happen repeatedly and damage a lot of people's lives.

"We have to take steps to alleviate it and it cannot be put off any longer. If we didn't proceed on the basis of risk phase 4 won't be funded, that would be a very poor decision indeed."

Flooding hit Feniton back in 2008 left the village as "unpassable" and many residents were unable to leave their houses due to the river of floodwater running past their homes. There were also several landslides in the area.

The medieval St Andrew's Church in Feniton Old Village was left under two feet of water, as were homes in the village centre.

Front gardens of houses were littered with flood-damaged white goods, furniture, books, a caravan and more.

Cllr Martin Smith, chairman of Feniton parish council, said that the people of Feniton were desperately in need of the scheme being taken forward.