A meeting was held on 28th September, involving representatives from Eastleigh (EBC), Hampshire (HCC), Southern Water (SW), and the Environment Agency (EA), plus Cllr Steve Broomfield and Paul Holmes MP. This was a scoping exercise to produce some first steps to identify responsibilities and create a way of drawing the various agencies together.
EBC are arranging a separate meeting with EA Cllr Steve Broomfield and Paul Holmes to discuss Allington Lane issues. These are very specific and are obviously affected by OHH, and are largely historic and related to how water courses have been affected by decades of development.
HCC Flood & Water Management kindly offered a 'walkround' to look at specific areas in Fair Oak and determine ownership responsibilities (very much a contentious and complex area). This took place last week, and HCC are now working to determine ownership of ditches on Mortimers Lane. Interestingly, the engineer also pointed out that the camber of the road as it curves down past Scotland Close actually takes run off away from the ditch, so he will also look at engineering ideas.
EBC are also working with HCC on how to help residents prepare for flooding, what responsibilities property owners carry, where to go for advice and help, and so on.
It was also suggested that new developments have not helped, and there is an acceptance that provision of things such as permeable parking areas and green roofs, and better drainage/water catchment and enhanced water management plans had a part to play.
SW and EA have both done a lot to identify, and where possible, improve problem areas, particularly round Michael's Way and Ashley Close (not helped by incomplete maps of main drains and confusion over ownership). We'll be speaking to the EA again about the brook as it runs along Hawthorn Close.
Cllr Broomfield also attended a meeting (online) of SW's Drainage and Waste Water Plan team at the Chickenhall Pumping Station and inform them about the problems we have. That was extremely informative and I hope to attend again in the near future.
To close, EBC officers (who have been extremely helpful) are working to establish a Strategic Group to move matters forward. But we are persevering and we will continue to work to keep residents as safe as possible from the risk of flooding. It's taking longer than we might hope, but we already have tangible results so we will press on.
