Flooding continues as Merseyside gets waterlogged

THE unusually high rainfall across the UK has led to severe flooding, but despite the risks, local Councils are still building on low-lying riparian areas. This heavy rain has caused chaos across Merseyside over the last few weeks, with flooding causing issues with traffic and affecting train services. Due to a mixture of extreme conditions the area, we have still had problems. Thankfully within Sefton, at this point, we have not had the major flooding on the scale some areas have experienced recently, after exploiting flood plains, but some are now saying, it is just a matter of time!

Many locals are now pointing to the fact the increasing amount of building on areas once used for soak away could in fact be directly leading to problems on roads that have not had any significant flooding before. Building on those areas could result in the surface water not being able to drain fully, principally because of the inadequacy of the current drainage systems to cope with the increase of run off water, which would, have in the past, been captured by the soak-away in riparian areas. Any defects and increases in capacity of the system will quickly lead to backflow and the system becoming overloaded. Even if water is successfully drained from newly constructed housing developments, there remains the risk of overload at the sites where this is ultimately discharged. For example, in the mid-Sefton area, probably the River Alt.

A good example of this was in the area around which surface water run off and an overloaded drainage system led to the flooding of the road and the cemetery, on Lydiate Lane, Thornton, on Monday, 24 February 2020.

The flooding was worse still around the bend, but due to building work and the flooding, it was not safe for us to film, but we did manage to get some stills, as you can see here.

Not only have new housing projects begun in this area, but is also the location where the controversial super road from Switch Island to Port of Liverpool, through Rimrose Valley Park, will cross. This has led to even more worry from local residents about the impact of the Highways England project.

Locals have also noted that other affected areas, traditionally not prone to flooding, are also near housing developments within the Sefton area.  We are told though that Lydiate Lane, Thornton, is having new drainage added, so it should not be as big a worry as some might think in the long run.

Would readers agree that developers and Councils should stop building on riparian zones and soak-away land, and proactively reduce the risk of flooding by improving drainage capacity, before we have any significant flooding on the low-lying land around Merseyside? Do you agree? Please email your thoughts on this to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.