Statutory investigation to be held into last month's flooding as Milton Keynes braces itself for more rain this week

Weather forecasts predict three days of heavy rainfall this week and local rivers are already overflowing in places.

Dozens of residents have still not recovered from the floods over the festive season, which particularly hit parts of Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell.

Now they are urging MK Council to ensure more flood defence and monitoring works are carried out to ensure they do not have to suffer again.

Last month's deluge of water started in the River Great Ouse in Stony at 11am on December 23 and then gushed downstream to Newport Pagnell, where parts of Tickford Street were underwater.

But Stony came off the worst. There the flood water, which can often include raw sewage, was 23cm (nine inches) high in some homes in Temperance Terrace and families had to be evacuated.

Over the course of the next seven hours, more houses at the North end of the High Street, in Mill Lane, Prospect

Road, Wolverton Mill, St Pauls Court and Fegans Court, became engulfed in water.

"Many of the homes flooded from underneath, the water coming up from underneath homes, and the pressure of the water so forceful in some cases that it caused floorboards to explode and splinter," said one resident. "Homes that had stayed dry over centuries of flooding, were now engulfed, for the first time, in water."

He added: "The nature and speed of the flow of the flood water in this year’s floods was entirely different to

previous flooding and near-flooding events... The flood water spread further, more rapidly, was more forceful and

much deeper than on any previous occasion."

In one place, on the High Street, the flow was so forceful that it knocked people off their feet, say residents.

"Many people have been left homeless because of these floods. The floods have had significant emotional and financial consequences to all residents affected. There will be lasting psychological damage for residents who now fear wet weather and rising water levels and worry when or if it will happen again."

Residents believe one reason flooding has worsened over the years is housing developments being built on flood plain land.

"In 1998 the Friends of Millfield campaigned to stop development on flood plain land, in particular the development on the Millfield (Willow Lane). Yet Milton Keynes Council allowed this development to go ahead, despite it being built on land that floods," said one resident.

"Flood plains are a neglected area of environmental concern and as a result have become easy prey for developers. The flood risk is recognised and all kinds of convoluted engineering proposals are put forward to try to mitigate this but at the end of the day, as many a local resident will tell you, the water has to go somewhere, whether it be up through the drains or in through the back door and/or downstream.

"In Stony Stratford, the water floods into our homes and businesses, then goes downstream to our neighbours in Newport Pagnell."

He added: "The flooding to homes in December 2020 is the worst on record. Water travelled further, faster and rose over a much shorter period with no warning from any authority. Residents suspect the cumulative effect of continually allowing building on flood plain land and greenfield sites, increased pressure on the sewerage and drainage systems from these new builds, the felling of trees and hedgerows, poor river management and lack of effective flood management (human errors) are again the causes of the floods, this year more devastating than ever.

"Residents do not feel that Milton Keynes Council are fulfilling their obligations to protect existing homes when building new homes...Inaction will lead to potentially many more homes flooding in the future if weather conditions,

as predicted, become wetter."

The residents are urging Stony Stratford Town Council, Milton Keynes Council, the Environment Agency, Anglian

Water and MK Parks Trust to work together quickly, to address and action their concerns.

An Milton Keynes Council spokesman told the Citizen today: "MK Council will be undertaking a statutory investigation following the flooding that happened over Christmas 2020. We’ll be working closely with the Environment Agency to review issues and make recommendations as required."