WELCOME

Welcome to the Meadlake Action Group Website

This site only applies to flooding from the Meadlake Ditch. It doesn't cover direct flooding from the River Thames in the roads running off of Chertsey Lane ( A320 ) .

The purpose of the site is to make local residents aware of what caused the land drainage problems that caused the 2014 floods that flooded Egham Hythe . In the event of it happening again , they will know where to look and what to do . It will also be possible to identify those responsible for dealing with planning and flood prevention who have failed to investigate or deal with reported problems so they can be held accountable. At the moment this is very hard to do because SCC and the EA are closing ranks.

THINGS TO BE AWARE OF

  • Following the 2014 floods , Egham Hythe and Thorpe had to be pumped out because the area couldn't drain properly . This was because adequate land drainage paths capable of handling fluvial flooding were not provided across landfill sites when the old gravel pits were landfilled. When gravel pits are landfilled the final elevations can be 2 or 3 metres higher than their original level. In our case , once floodwater got behind the earth bunds on the Norlands Lane landfill site it couldn't drain naturally and had to be pumped out.

  • The Meadlake Ditch is the only drainage path for Egham Hythe. With hindsight , the February 2014 flood event that flooded over 3,000 properties , could have been prevented if previous flood events involving the River Thames in 2003 and 2007 had been investigated thoroughly. Following the 2014 floods , local residents identified and cleared the main cause of the drainage problems that were responsible for all three flood events.


REMOVAL OF DIVERSION CULVERT & BUNDS IN OCTOBER 2014

  • It took another 3 months to obtain Flood Defence Consent from the EA to remove the the main problem that caused the backflow responsible for flooding properties up to three kilometres upstream. This was a poorly sited culvert and earth bunds 50 metres north of the Norlands Lane Bridge built to divert the ditch in 1998. If no culvert had been used , leaving an open ditch , any upstream flooding would have been much lower because the bed of the Meadlake Ditch under the Thorpe Lea Road bridge ( B3376 ) is 2 metres higher than it is under Norlands Lane.

  • If that culvert had not been removed, Egham Hythe would have flooded every time the River Thames gets into the Meadlake Ditch . This has already happened on three occasions, so we would have flooded roughly every 4 years.

  • In 2003 , a Drainage Lagoon surrounded by raised earth banking ( Bunds ) dammed off the southern end of the Viridor landfill site. This Lagoon was built without planning permission or flood defence consent yet SCC will not be taking any action to rectify the problem because the site is out of its 5 year stewardship period.

Maps and plans submitted for planning applications have been deliberately edited to hide landfill elevations yet the actual landfill levels surrounding the Lagoon and the earth bunds along the west bank of the Meadlake Ditch are clearly visible on LIDAR maps. Anyone with very limited technical knowledge should have spotted this and explains why planning and support staff have never managed to supply basic information about reference data such as agreed landfill and drainage paths. The dam created by the Surface Water Lagoon wiped out what had once been a 900 metre wide floodplain running from the Meadlake Ditch to Ten Acre Lane. We asked about it in 2016 and it took SCC three years to finally admit that the Lagoon and earth bunds were built without planning permission. We had actually spoke to the MD of Viridor and , at an on-site meeting , his site mamager agreed to rectify the fact that there were no drainage paths across the southern end of the site. I seems he may have had a change of mind after a meeting or conversation with someone from Surrey County Council.

LINK to email from Viridor confirming they will deal with the problem

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Surrey County Council ( SCC ) are both the Local Lead Flood Authority ( LLFA ) and the Mineral Planning Authority ( MPA ). They are responsible for the planning of gravel extraction and landfill sites. They are also responsible for investigating flood events thoroughly which they have failed to do. We received no assistance or advice from them while we were trying to identify what turned out to be a simple land drainage problem.

  • The Environment Agency ( EA ) are responsible for checking planning applications for land drainage issues , flood modelling and impact on the environment before agreeing to planning proposals. This also applies to gravel extraction sites , landfill and major projects such as the River Thames Scheme ( RTS ) Scheme. Despite all of these responsibilities , no flood compensation flood channels were provided on both of the landfill sites between Green Lane and Norlands Lane where final landfill elevations were far higher than other sites in the Egham Hythe area.

  • Link to examples of dodgy planning documents

  • Link to dodgy flood floodmaps that were sent to the Environment Agency for comment in February 2019 that are still unanswered

  • After dealing with both SCC and the EA for over 5 years we have concluded that they are not customer orientated , and that they lack basic skills that include an understanding of water levels and flow. They are not fit for purpose.

At the moment , the main things we are interested in are :-

1. How the Meadlake Ditch will behave the next time the Thames gets into it.

We removed the culvert and bunds that caused the backflow that flooded properties upstream in October 2014 but we need to monitor key locations during a live fluvial flooding event. The Thames must be due to get into the Meadlake Ditch again soon because the last time it broke over Chertsey Lane was in 2014.

2. One man with a digger could solve the land drainage problem across the Viridor Landfill Site in about 2 days at a cost of roughly £2,000. SCC and the EA must have spent more than that on expenses attending Flood Group meetings.


  • Why are SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL prepared to risk further flood damage to properties , infrastructure and the environment in the Egham Hythe and Thorpe Wards that will cost millions of pounds when it would only cost about £2,000 to correct one of their drop offs ? They failed to identify a simple land drainage problem following three separate flood events yet show no signs of embarrassment.

  • How did Surrey County Council manage to talk Viridor ( the landfill company ) out of curing the drainage problem they created when they built a dam across the southern end of their site without planning permission ? Viridor had already confirmed that the were willing to repair the damage at their own expense before Surrey County Council met them.

3. Flooding in the fishing lakes and fields south of the M3 from the River Bourne .

As expected , the Twynersh and Chertsey Lakes flooded again on 14th November 2019 . Thorpe Park removed their weirboard again and hopefully , the EA will be visiting the Twynersh Lakes to check silt levels. This saga has been going on for nearly 6 years.

4. Receiving answers from SCC to a formal complaint that they raised on my behalf.

The complaint is against SCC themselves and it should be investigated by an independent team - not SCC. This is because they are unlikely to admit to any negligence on their part because it would leave them open to claims for retrospective damages.

I have just received SCC's reply that confirms they can't handle constructive criticism . They have also confirmed that they are unwilling to deal with the land drainage problem they created and ignored . I hope they actually try to make make an appearance at the next flood event because nobody saw any sign of them in 2014. ( LINK to SCC's reply to my complaint )

5. Seeing the results of an in inspection of the Norlands Lane culvert that is due this month .

It is now February 2020 and the inspection has still not been carried out.

*** NEWSFLASH - 21st October 2019 ***

We have just been informed that Surrey County Council have obtained the budget to allow the River Thames Scheme to be built. This is great news but , the channels will take about 5 years to build . During that time Egham Hythe will still have a land drainage problem that needs to be addressed.

We hope that the RTS project team don't repeat the mistakes that were only discovered after the Jubilee River opened in 2003. Those problems included design defects , poor workmanship and operational errors. I have pasted some comments from Ewan Larcombe regarding the project on the RTS CHANNEL page.

Memorable clangers linked to the EA include :-

  • The Jubilee River in 2003

  • The Foss Barrier in 2015

  • The Todbrook Reservoir in 2019

https://news.surreycc.gov.uk/2019/10/21/river-thames-scheme-funding-announced-as-part-of-surrey-flood-alleviation-programme

At the bottom of this WELCOME page there are some historic maps and aerial images of the drainage problem area.

More detailed information regarding the causes of the flood events of 2003 , 2007 and 2014 can be viewed on the HISTORY and WHAT WE DID pages.

Anyone taking a tour of the problem area with us will be left wondering why these people are still employed and also what induced them to take no action to protect the residents of Egham Hythe and Thorpe.


John Simmonds

The Meadlake Action Group

meadlake.action@gmail.com

c/o The Compasses , Egham

LANDFILL SITES IN EGHAM HYTHE AND THORPE

FLOODWATER HELD BACK 50 METRES NORTH OF NORLANDS LANE ( TW20 8SS )

Floodwater held back 50 metres north of Norlands Lane in 2014 is clearly visible in this satellite image. The HISTORY page provides more detailed information.

GRAVEL PITS AND LANDFILL SITES IN 1981

PROBLEM AREA AROUND THE NORLANDS LANE BRIDGE

Floodwater Held Back North of Norlands Lane

Aerial image showing floodwater held back north of Norlands Lane by bunds around the Surface Water Lagoon and blocked culverts south of Norlands Lane. Look at the 1998 aerial photo at the bottom this page . It proves that the area was flat as a pancake in 1998 before the lagoon and bunds , were built without planning permission were built.

DEFINITION - LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)

Airborne LIDAR (light detection and ranging) measures the height of the ground surface and other features in large areas of landscape with a very high resolution and accuracy. Such information was previously unavailable, except through labour-intensive field survey or photogrammetry. It provides highly detailed and accurate models of the land surface at metre and sub-metre resolution. This provides archaeologists with the capability to recognise and record otherwise hard to detect features.

LIDAR Map showing elevations around the Surface Water Lagoon that was built without planning permission in 2003

( These landfill elevations have been hidden on a number of planning documents and flood maps which would have mislead both local residents and planning staff who are not familiar with the area )

In 1998 , the area where the Surface Water Lagoon and Bunds were built was as flat as a pancake . The lagoon and bunds that dam off the southern end of the site where the arc of containers are located.

This is a survey of the Meadlake Ditch between Norlands Lane and Green Lane TW20 8SS.

A new 250 metre stretch of the ditch was excavated in 1998 when the ditch was diverted. Note the height of the banks and the upstream and downstream flood levels in 2014. The gardens in Redwood and other properties that back on to the Meadlake Ditch should drain into the ditch . Unfortunately they cannot because they are almost 2 metres lower then the east bank of the ditch.