Talks under way to relieve frequent flooding in South Shropshire village

Officers from the Environment Agency and local councillors met in Bucknell earlier in the year and following a recent virtual meeting, are hoping to make progress before the end of the year.

Bucknell is an area of Shropshire that frequently floods.

In August this year, the local village shop, Your Bucknell Stores, closed after 12 floods in two years affected it so badly.

Shropshire Councillor Nigel Hartin for Clun and Jonathan Kemp from Bedstone and Bucknell Parish Council met virtually with officers from the Environment Agency last week about future plans for work on the River Redlake following a walk around the village earlier in the year.

Councillor Hartin said: "This was in part due to conversations I had recently with a local resident regarding the build-up of silt under church bridge next to the post office.

"We had been waiting for some further feedback from the EA since their visit here, so our meeting with Rachael Glover and engineer Wayne Best, both of whom have been on site recently and know the river catchment well, was quite useful.

'Good news'

"The EA have commissioned a major study of the River Redlake catchment area from consultants Arup, one of the first to be so commissioned in the county with a timescale for study work to be started early in the New Year.

"This is good news but we really need some actual dredging action now rather than later on next year so I have been in contact with Shropshire Councils flood and drainage manager John Bellis as, although the EA is responsible for clearing the main river, as far as the bridges themselves are concerned its actually the 'riparian owner'; which is Shropshire Council, who has to carry out any de-silting works under bridges after consulting with the EA."

Mr Kemp said: "For any works to be successful, input from the riparian owners of the channel upstream and downstream of the bridge would also be required.

"The build up of sediment under bridges is an issue across the county."

Mr Kemp said he hopes to schedule a meeting for this week with Shropshire Council Bridges Team to discuss the creation of a council policy for bridge de-siltation works.

There are further plans for a virtual meeting after Christmas involving the Environment Agency, Shropshire Council, the parish council and the water company to try to kick start some action.