Flood meeting to raise concerns

A flood consultation meeting for Dorchester this week is being held four miles out of town at Stratton – prompting questions why Dorset Council and the Environment Agency could not hold a meeting in the town.

The drop in session, at Stratton Village Hall on June 4th from 3-7pm is being held in response to January’s “threat to life flooding” when the town was effectively cut off by groundwater and river flooding with 24 centimetres of rain on already saturated ground.

Drivers were rescued from their cars in London Road by fire officers with inflatables, homes flooded in Castle Park, and houses in Kings Road sprayed with water mixed with dilute sewage bubbling up from drains in the road.

Alastair Nisbet from the protest group STAND says many in the town and surrounding villages are fearful that flooding and sewage discharges will worsen in future years as a result of climate change and the development of thousands of new homes proposed in Dorset’s local plan.

“People are worried – they told us at the developers’ consultations in March, so we were delighted when the Council and Environment Agency teamed up for their own meeting, but why is the Dorchester consultation so inaccessible? It’s not on a bus route so how are people going to get there if they don’t have a car? It’s a complete nonsense and they need to move this drop in session into the town.”

Dorset Council leader Nick Ireland says on the government website: “Supporting our communities through and beyond flood events is a priority for Dorset Council. We encourage anyone who has been affected by flooding this winter to come along, share their experience, and have their voice heard.”