‘Make it work faster’: Croston flood defence plea after homes are damaged

It comes after water entered around half a dozen properties in Croston on Sunday following the weekend’s torrential rain.

Although the number of dwellings affected by the downpour was dwarfed by the hundreds that were liable to flood before the £7m flood defence scheme was opened in 2017, local flood prevention volunteers say that the speed at which it operates is serving to heighten the anxiety of those who fear that their homes could be inundated whenever the weather turns.

Richard Guinness, a co-ordinator for the Lower Yarrow Flood Action Group, stressed that the Environment Agency-run dam mechanism had saved much of Croston from flooding “yet again” in recent days.

However, he told the Lancashire Post that the question at least needed to be asked about whether it was operating as “aggressively” as it could - and whether even the few properties that were flooded at the weekend might have been spared had the set-up been tweaked.

“It takes four stages for the dam to be fully closed. On Sunday, it was triggered at 6.15pm - but that full closure didn't happen until 10.45pm.

“That’s because - built into the system - there is a 90-minute mandatory delay between each stage. So it takes all that time from being triggered to get to the final stage.

“During that time, it is starting to control the river level - but not particularly fast. So on Sunday night I had residents screaming late in the evening, saying: ‘What’s happening - is the dam working? Because the river is still rising.'

“And I was [having to say]: ‘Yes, but it’s not fully closed yet - and unfortunately it won't be for another three quarters of an hour.’,” Richard explained.

[Since this article was published, the Environment Agency has responded to say that the flooding in Croston last weekend was due to surface water, not overflow from the Rivewr Yarrow – read their full response here.]

The dam was installed upstream of the village, towards Eccleston, six years ago after widespread flooding saw 340 properties flooded in the Boxing Day storm of 2015.

A 600 metre-long earth embankment was constructed, capable of retaining up to 1.3 million cubic metres of water - equivalent to 520 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The Environment Agency (EA) developed the scheme in partnership with Chorley Council - which contributed £1m towards the cost - along with Lancashire County Council and water firm United Utilities. The organisation says that a total of 438 properties in Croston now have a reduced risk of flooding from the River Yarrow - down from five percent to one percent in any given year.

Richard Guinness accepts that the dam’s operation may have been designed in the way that it has “for reasons which we don't understand”. He says that previous appeals to the EA for a change have been met with “models, graphs and histories” showing why the current arrangement is the best one.

“Nonetheless, we just feel that this system - which works very much in Croston’s favour and has enabled many people to relax - could be improved,” he added.

The EA was approached for comment on the issues raised in this report, but did not respond by the deadline for publication. However, they have since issued a statement, which can be read here.

‘Everyone played their part’

A councillor has paid tribute to the “community effort” that got going to protect Croston once it became clear that Sunday’s deluge risked doing more than giving the village a good soaking.

Pauline Strachan, chair of Croston Parish Council, says that the response of residents, firefighters and people trying to get from A to B all served to minimise the number of properties that suffered damage.

Fire officers from Tarleton attended the worst affected areas and also dealt with a tree that had fallen across Moor Lane.

The blocking of that route compounded other road closures as a result of deep, standing water - with Grape Lane and Syd Brook Lane amongst those shut. Parish councillors acted as marshals to redirect village and through traffic - and Cllr Strachan says that the co-operation of drivers prevented more homes from being flooded

“The problem is that when drivers go through floods, the swell from their vehicles pushes the water over people’s doorsteps - so you can get water going into people’s homes which wouldn't happen [otherwise].

“So that’s one of the reasons why the traffic was stopped - and I think 99.9 percent of people appreciated that that's why they weren’t being allowed through.

“Lots of people came out to volunteer to help - and I think we did very well overall,” Cllr Strachan reflected.

She said that the parish council would now be setting up an action plan to ensure a co-ordinated response in the event of future flooding incidents - including investigating whether it would be possible to provide sandbags in areas that needed them.