Valley 'faces 20-year flood risk'

A £1m dam now protects East Peckham from the Coult Stream

Villages close to the River Medway in Kent may be at risk of flooding for decades, it has been revealed.

A new £1m dam will protect 50 houses in East Peckham from the Coult Stream, and potential damage estimated at £12.1m. But 198 properties are still at risk.

Ian Walton, who designed the dam, said defences being drawn up for villages such as East Peckham may take 20 years.

The Environment Agency said work took a decade on average depending on priority with some areas not eligible at all.

Engineers had to prove that the Coult Stream was a significant flood risk to obtain government funding for the dam.

Anecdotal evidence and analysis found there had been 13 instances of flooding from the stream in 23 years.

Villages 'still at risk'

Mr Walton said the "excitable" Coult Stream - which reaches its peak flow six hours after maximum rainfall - was "something we felt we could do something about".

The civil engineer said: "When the first floods hit in 2000, the whole of Kent was under water.

EAST PECKHAM FLOOD RISK 1,000 properties in the village 260 on the outskirts with an East Peckham postcode 50 were at risk from the Coult Stream 198 still at risk in the Medway catchment area

"Everyone at East Peckham thought it was the Medway.

"They didn't twig that the Coult Stream was causing the problem.

"People moved back into houses after the floods in 2000, and then in 2002 it flooded again.

"Everyone was up in arms, but the Medway hadn't come out of its banks."

Three years later, the village has a dam which in wet weather will hold extra water away from the village and other water courses, storing it over farmland.

Residents have welcomed the dam but say they are now waiting to see if it works.

Mr Walton said: "The big problem in the Medway Valley is that Yalding and [the village of] Collier Street are all at risk from the Medway, but it can't just be overcome.

PROPERTIES STILL AT RISK River Eden and Eden Brook 723 Forest Row to Penshurst 344 Penshurst to Leigh Barrier 60 Allington to Tonbridge 667 River Tiese and Lesser Tiese (includes Lamberhurst and Yalding) 1,189 River Beult (Yalding) 885 River Bourne (East Peckham) 198

"The Environment Agency is trying to come up with a range of measures for Yalding and parts of East Peckham."

But he said: "The Medway work will be 15 to 20 years before it gets done.

"It is still very much on the drawing board."

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "Not all homes are eligible for flood defences.

"There is a complicated priority scoring system which means each section of land at risk is judged on environmental and economic grounds.

"Flood defences tend to take an average of 10 years from inception to completion because we have to make sure we are not moving the problem elsewhere and we need to ensure it's the most economic option.

"It could take up to 20 years. It depends on the priority score.

"Anyone in a flood plain should make sure they know they are in a flood plain and if they are at risk they should make a flood plan."