F D Bird
4 Station Road
Bretforton
Evesham
WR11 7HX
Mr Graeme Irwin
Senior Planning Officer
Environment Agency
Hafren House, Welshpool Road
Shelton, Shrewsbury
SY3 8BB
24th January 2013
Cc: Heather Pearson, Wychavon District Council
Dear Mr. Irwin
PLANNING APPLICATION 12/01521 - STATION ROAD, BRETFORTON
Further to my letter to Heather Pearson concerning the above, dated 20th December 2012, of which
you received a copy, I have been gathering more relevant information concerning the increased
flood risk in Bretforton, caused by the Station Road site preparation.
1) The Hydrock permeability tests were conducted in April 2012, at the end of a drought period
and do not therefore reflect normal conditions. The tests clearly showed static water levels
700mm beneath the surface in two of their pits, even in the driest possible soil and climate
conditions.
2) The Hydrock tests MUST be repeated in conditions that reflect today’s saturated
environment to have any validity at all. The proposed building site is currently a marshy
quagmire, so I will be interested to compare the previous test results with meaningful data.
3) I understand that the Hydrock engineers were careful to infill the pits correctly following
their tests. However once the outer casings of the gravel (limestone) water courses are
broken the damage is difficult to repair. Over a period of time the gravel water courses form
an outer shell of calcium carbonate, similar to the cal build up on domestic taps in a hard
water area. Once the outer shell is broken liquid soil will enter the channel, eventually silting
up, causing a blockage and the water will seek another route of lowest resistance.
4) The subsequent calculations for water soakaways based on the Hydrock data is sheer
fantasy.
5) Bretforton Hall owners are concerned by the flooding of their cellars in recent months and
the water evacuation pumps are working constantly. Their field adjoining Bretforton Hall is
waterlogged and this has never happened before, even in 2007.
6) Bretforton Manor owners are also perplexed by the flooding in their cellars and their
problems started at roughly the same time as the rest of the flooding events around the
area. Bretforton Manor last experienced flooding in their cellars in 2007 when Bretforton
Brook overflowed. However today the Brook is normal and not the source of the problem.
7) One resident of Station Road, close to the proposed building site, told me of the trouble his
builders had to overcome, when his house was being erected. At that time there was no
mains drainage so the builders tried to dig a cesspit. The following morning the waters had
risen with enough pressure to push off the manhole cover. After 4 days and 4 repeated
attempts they gave up and filled the cesspit with concrete to seal it.
8) The drainage issue cannot be resolved by digging deeper and breaking through the rock
layer on which the mud flats sit, because there is even more water there. Several years ago a
farmer decided to drill a well through the rock strata, close to the proposed building site,
and when he broke through the rock, the water pressure shot a spout of water 40 foot into
the air.
9) In addition to the proposed Crest Nicholson building site, to which the above information
refers, there is an approved plan for 22 social housing dwellings. The two sites are adjacent
and this latter site is subject to the same flooding considerations as the first. However no
flood risk assessment has been done at all for this project, because the land area is less than
one hectare. The social housing project is to expand an existing development called Holly
Close which was built approximately 10-12 years ago.
10) Local resident elders inform me that the original Holly Close construction smashed a
drainage pipe, which runs east to west through the northern part of Bretforton and the
aforementioned proposed building sites. The builders had great difficulty stemming the flow
from the fractured pipe, but eventually sealed it with concrete. The farmer who worked the
land in question is convinced that this action has contributed to the drainage problems of
the village.
In summary, I do not believe that due diligence has been performed in the flood risk assessment for
the proposed and passed aforementioned building projects for Bretforton. There does not appear to
be a joined-up, co-ordinated approach to the flood issues and we seem to be sleepwalking into a
potential, and unnecessary, disaster.
I request that you either withdraw environment agency approval of the above planning applications,
or at least delay the planning committee process until your engineers can evaluate the information I
have provided and can give a credible assessment of the flood risk.
Yours sincerely,
DON BIRD
donbird188@yahoo.com