'Invisible' flood barrier on show

by Claire Marshall
BBC Midlands Correspondent

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The 'invisible' flood barrier in action

Ralph Thompson is manager of the Swan Hotel in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire - one of the most flood-prone towns in Britain.

Wearing his chef's apron, he walks beneath the hanging baskets outside his pub and beside the smoothly-flowing waters of the Severn.

A tall man, he raises his hand up to the top of his chest and says: "They're going to raise this road by a foot and put a four-foot wall on top.

"If they build it, it'll come up to here."

The wall is part of the Environment Agency's £4m flood prevention plan for Upton-upon-Severn but has been fiercely contested by Mr Thompson and other business people who worry about the impact it would have on the town's tourism industry.

"It will probably empty me," he said.

"People sit in the bar to have a look at the river and have a drink. If they can't do that, they'll go somewhere else."

Temporary barriers

A wall is controversial, but most residents accept that a permanent solution to the flooding problem needs to be found.

Currently, temporary barriers are being used. They were deployed six times last year, at a cost of around £35,000 a go.

During the floods of July 2007, they did not make it in time. The barriers were stuck on the motorway in the torrential rain, allowing the floodwaters to rise and devastate the town.

Now, a company based just up the road in Droitwich, claims to have an alternative solution.

They are launching a new type of defence system called the "Self-Closing Flood Barrier".

Designed in Holland, it has won several design awards, and is already in use in a number of countries around the world.

Pub landlord Ralph Thompson is opposed to a wall to prevent flooding

It is currently being put in place at the National Archive in Washington DC, where it will help to protect such venerable documents as the original Declaration of Independence.

Installed as a permanent structure flush with the ground, it is virtually invisible when not being used.

The barriers, designed to weigh less than water, automatically rise when water levels rise.

This also avoids the need to rely on weather reports to try to predict when floods may hit, and the costly manual erection and dismantling of temporary barriers.

Frank Kelly, from UK Flood Barriers, which is launching the new design, said it was more effective and cheaper than other options.

"It's probably 50% cheaper than the solution being proposed for Upton. The barrier will sit in the ground for 50 years with minimal maintenance.

"Over its lifetime, it would save the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds," he said.

Cost is a vital issue, according to a recent report by the Environment Agency.

All 'worried'

The agency estimates that one in six homes in England are now at risk of flooding, and that investment will need to double over the next quarter of a century to some £1bn a year to deal with the growing threat from climate change.

When asked about the new design of flood barrier, Anthony Perry, the Environment Agency representative responsible for Upton-upon-Severn, told the BBC that proposals for the waterfront were still being developed.

"It is one of the options we are looking at .. We need to make sure it's as 100% resilient as it can be," he said.

Nearly two years after the historic floods, the residents themselves are still waiting to see what will be done.

Dave Williams, who has lived in the town for 28 years and been flooded several times, said: "We're worried that a wall would just become a tipping ground.

"This other thing seems like a good idea because you won't be able to see it."