Site meeting to tackle Pinks Hill flooding

In the latter part of last week, I had a phone call from a senior manager at the Highways Agency to discuss the problems on the High Firs estate, especially Pinks Hill (post of 19 January). He told me that the Highways Agency and contractors would be on site shortly to examine issues with the ditch that takes water runoff from the A20 to the lagoon nearby. We subsequently agreed that this could provide the basis for a site meeting involving the Highways Agency, KCC/ Kent Highways and local residents. That meeting, which I attended, took place this morning.

Contrary to my earlier belief, the lagoon appears to be working satisfactorily. Significant works were undertaken in 2009, adding a large borehole to enhance the runoff and soaking away of water; it is equipped for everything up to a 1 in 100 years storm. However, there are clearly significant problems with the ditch. Fencing surrounding the ditch is in poor condition and a great deal of debris has been dumped near the entrance to the pipe that takes the water to the lagoon. Result: the pipe has become blocked, water builds up near the pipe and entrance and then runs down the ditch to exit at its lowest point, near the common land where heavy flows of water have been observed.

The Highways Agency's contractor was on site as well this morning and will undertake extensive works on the pipe (as well as the course of the ditch itself, to prevent water overflowing at the point where it currently does). This should be within the next two weeks; I will update with another post. Over the longer term, there is need to confirm ownership of the fence (Kent Highways undertook to check this) and ensure that it is reinforced. This might not stop debris being dumped there, but it would surely help.

There are a number of other issues to be taken forward, including the buildup of water that has taken place rather higher up on the common ground; this appears to have contributed to the flooding then days ago, and there is still a lot of stagnant water there. Kent Highways undertook to examine its drainage network in the area to see if there is any linkage to this problem, and to examine a number of drainage issues related to individual properties.

Altogether, a very positive site meeting with clear actions coming out of it. I will post updates as and when we have further news, but hopefully this will offer some relief for residents. The most immediate concern is that the works cannot take place immediately, so that problems could recur with further heavy rain in the coming days. Kent Highways has undertaken to provide further flood sacks later today.