The flooding at Canon Pyon, where the A4110 crosses the Weillington Brook is a major concern. In the winter of 2024/25 it flooded badly three times, affecting properties each time. (There are further flooding issues elsewhere in the village, most notably to the south, but this article refers to this main system).
The main mechanism is that water, coming down the Wellington brook, and down the A4110 (from the North, and also from the Weobley road, which enters into a drainage system running between the car park and the A4110), overwhelms the two culverts in the bridge. Water backs up, breaking the southern banks of the brook, and also pooling on the north of the bridge until it bursts over, spilling into the low ground to the south of the bridge, meeting the water breaking the southern bank. Extreme, but not unusual in recent times, flooding leaves the whole area submerged. The houses at Brookside regularly flood, but increasingly houses in Pyon Close (to the SW of the bridge) and further south along the A4110 have been affected.
The impact of the flooding is not just on properties. The pooling south of the bridge quickly renders the road dangerous. The A4110 is effectively the relief road for the A49 which floods easily. Without either road, essential and emergency services are hugely compromised; often in ways that aren't obvious: for example, during the winter of 2024/25 I heard numerous stories of home carers not being able to do their rounds, either because of direct access issues, or simply the extra time the blocked roads required. The EA will typically favour protecting houses with flood-resistant air-bricks, flood doors etc (property based flood resilience), but I am keen that we address the flooding itself.
The most obvious answer is to increase the conveyance under the bridge; switching the two round culverts (pipes) for a full box culvert. This has been talked about for some time, however it has yet to be justified in a cost/benefit analysis. The complication is that "just" speeding the water away from Canon Pyon is a risk to Wellington, which is downstream and already has even more severe flooding issues. The Environment Agency is funding a major hydraulic study of the Lugg, through the Lugg Internal Drainage Board, which could address this, and I've asked that the scope of that work be extended to include Canon Pyon.
There are other options that might be preferred to works on the bridge; in particular trying to increase the amount of water that comes to the brook downstream of the bridge. This appears to hinge on the Yeoman's yard, and I'm in active conversations about what can be done there. I say preferred, as there is limited money, and if we can find a solution that is less expensive, but still works, it will have a greater likelihood of making the cut when we try and allocate funds. For decades now, there has been a conversation with Stonewater (the housing association which owns/part owns the Brook House cottages) about whether a flood wall can be built to protect the 3 houses that regularly flood - however the fact that the flood risk ranges beyond those houses now means we will probably be looking for other solutions.
And of course maintenance of the water course itself is vital. Working with landowners and the parish council, we have had trees removed from the brook, and continue to ensure that that happens as further blockages occur.
In winter 2024/25 we received permission from the landowner to dig to a ditch that drains the puddle south of the bridge, and acted immediately to do so, as well as clearing the chain link fence that became a dam.
Actions undertaken to date:
- An investigation undertaken by WSP, specialist contractors, into options available. This is currently being refreshed as part of the £2m flooding resilience project.
- Continued clearing of blockages in the river.
- Incorporation of Canon Pyon into the EA funded study about downstream impact
- In winter 2024/25 a trench was dug to ease the build up of water pudding south of the bridge.