UK: Coton Anti-Flooding Program Begins

Today, the Environment Agency will start work to reduce flood risk for 297 properties in Coton, north Tamworth.

The construction work will be undertaken by Jackson Frameworks Ltd through a £1.8 million contract. The work will take approximately six months to complete, and will include a mixture of flood walls and flood banks along Lichfield Road (A51) and to the north of Coton Lane.

During the design phase, the officials identified the presence of bronze-age archaeology at the site. This meant that the project team, working closely with the Environment Agency archaeologist, needed to carry out an investigation and then recover archaeological information before construction work could start.

Davinder Gill, Project Manager for the Environment Agency’s Lower Tame Flood Risk Management Scheme said: “We can’t prevent flooding entirely, but we can reduce the risks of flooding. By working with our partners and people at risk of flooding, we can minimise its effects and reduce the damage it causes”.

The Coton area experienced flooding in 2000 and 2007. The scheme has been designed to a 1-in-200 year standard of protection (this is equivalent to a flood that has a 1-in-200 chance of occurring in any given year).

The Coton work is part of a wider £16.5 million programme of flood risk improvements, including three further sections of the Lower Tame, south of Tamworth. The overall scheme is due to be completed in Spring 2014 and will reduce flood risk to 1,500 properties.

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Press Release, October 8, 2012