Residents urged to help in the fight against flooding

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

With winter now on the way and the ground saturated from one of the wettest springs and summers on record, Hampshire County Council is urging residents to fill in an online form by 5 November to make sure that plans to minimise and prevent future flooding are as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

Drop-in sessions

Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 the County Council has new responsibilities, in its role as a Lead Local Flood Authority, to manage the flood risk related to groundwater, surface water and ordinary watercourse flooding. The Environment Agency remains responsible for coastal and main river flooding.

As part of this new role, the County Council is responsible for developing a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. Recent 'drop-in' events in Ringwood, Emsworth, Winchester and Fleet have been well attended and have resulted in important feedback from local residents about flooding in their area. People were also able to find out more about the County Council's plans and preparations to combat and reduce the potential for flooding across the county.

Online form

Now all Hampshire residents are being invited to complete an online form to pass on their knowledge and experience of flooding in their local area, or to confirm if the information the County Council already holds, about the extent and frequency of previous flooding, is correct. The online consultation is open until noon on Monday 5 November.

Residents pass on local knowledge

Councillor Mel Kendal, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Environment and Transport said:

"We need everyone's help to check that the information shown on our maps is accurate. This includes letting us know if there are any significant errors, such as flooding incidents you're aware of that we haven't included, or flooding and flood risk we have included where there haven't been any previous incidents.

Any help that residents can give us is very much appreciated, especially using the online form as this is a very easy way for us to collect this valuable information. Local knowledge is a powerful way to help us collate the most accurate and up-to-date information we can, which will go towards making sure we target our resources effectively in the fight against flooding. I would like to thank all those who have already shared their local knowledge with us as this has been very helpful in preparing our plans for the future."

The Environment Agency is also launching a campaign in October to raise awareness of flooding.

• Flooding and water management in Hampshire

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