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Flooding and Flood Defence

For up-to-date information on the risk of flooding in Gloucestershire, visit:

•   The Gloucestershire County Council flooding web pages

Emergency Relief Grants for homes flooded during November 2012

These ‘Emergency Relief Grants’  will take the form of a flat-rate payment of £250 to help with the most immediate needs.  

If you wish to make a claim, please complete the Emergency Relief Grants Application Form and return to the address given on the form.

The form must be independently countersigned by someone in a position of authority who can confirm you have been flooded. (For example this could be a local parish councillor, member of the clergy, or someone from emergency services).

If you need help in filling the form out, please call the Gloucestershire Community Foundation on 01452 656386/01452 654834

Watercourses

If you live next to a watercourse, such as a river or stream, and you own at least one of the banks, then you have a responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of that watercourse. As a bank owner, you are known as and referred to in legislation, as a ‘riparian owner’.

The Council is the Land Drainage Authority for the area and polices the maintenance of ordinary watercourses. The Environment Agency has a similar role in respect of designated main rivers.   For information regarding main rivers, please see the Environment Agency Website.

The Land Drainage Act 1991 gives the Local Authority powers to take action against individual riparian owners who fail to perform their duties and responsibilities. A useful booklet, “Living on the Edge” is published by the Environment Agency and is available on their Living on the Edge web page.   This outlines the roles and responsibilities of the various authorities and individual, in respect of land drainage.

The Council does have designated flood defences which comprise of either man-made channels and culverts, constructed to divert flood waters away from vulnerable settlements or specifically defined lengths of watercourse, historically known to give rise to serious flooding if not maintained to a reasonable standard.   The Council inherited these defences from predecessor authorities at its formation in 1974, following the Local Government reorganisation.  The Council-maintained defences are listed within its Policy Statement on Flood Defence.

The Environment Agency issue flood warnings for the various main rivers throughout our area.  For more information visit the Floodline web page or telephone Floodline on 0845 988 1188.   

Properties at Risk of Flood

Indicative floodplain maps are issued by the Environment Agency, these are available on the Environment Agency Website.

Property owners situated within the floodplain can receive an automated telephone messaging service giving flood warnings for their specific river catchment.

Highway Drains

In urban areas of the district, blocked road gullies and highway drainage systems can give rise to localised flooding.   Problems relating to these should be directed to Gloucestershire County Council Highways Department.

The contact telephone number for their local office is:

• 08000 514 514

Sandbags

The Council no longer provides sandbags to protect individual properties and now support the Environment Agency's "self help" policy, in respect of this.

The current Policy in respect of sandbags can be found as Appendix 2 of the Council's Policy Statement on flood defence, see the document below: