Flood prevention, River Greta, Keswick, Cumbria

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Dear Environment Agency,

Local knowledge confirms that the river bed is, in places, up to 2 metres higher than it was 50 years ago. This is believed to be a significant factor in the flood events of 2005, 2009 & 2015.

Please set out your plans for dredging the river. Since the flood on 6/12/15, only superficial clearance of the river bed has been observed by residents.

Secondly, what are your plans for relief of the double-arch bridge near Crossthwaite Road ? This bridge became partially blocked by debris on 6/12/15, leading to a significant build-up of water upstream, thus worsening the flood damage, especially to properties in Penrith Road and Greta Steet.

Yours faithfully,

John Lang
35A Blencathra St, Keswick, CA12

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

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Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

Dear John

I have passed your enquiry to our customer team for the relevant area and they will be in touch with you shortly.

The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations state that a public authority must respond to requests for information within 20 working days. We are currently receiving a higher than normal number of requests. We shall endeavour to respond as soon as we can, however if we anticipate it will take longer than 20 working days we will contact you to let you know.

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Should you wish to contact the customer team directly, please use the contact details below. Please quote your Enquiry Reference 160524/JTC07 in any correspondence with us regarding this matter.

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Environment Planning & Engagement
Environment Agency
Cumbria and Lancashire Area
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Walton Summit
Bamber Bridge
PRESTON
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Tel: 03708 506506

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CMBLNC Info Requests, Environment Agency

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Dear John

Please be aware that due to the recent flooding in Cumbria and Lancashire
we are currently dealing with a high volume of information requests which
may result in a delay in responding to your enquiry. We shall, however,
try our best to respond as soon as we can. We appreciate your
understanding at this time.

 

Thank you for contacting the Environment Agency regarding flood
prevention, River Greta, Keswick, Cumbria

 

The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations
state that a public authority must respond to requests for information
within 20 working days however we always aim to provide an answer as soon
as we can.  

 

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you then please visit our website: 

[1]http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/abo...

 

Usually we make no charge for providing information. In some cases we may
make a charge for licensed re-use of our data. Where this is the case, we
will notify you in advance.

 

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc then please call our freephone
24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[2]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

 

If you need to contact me in the meantime, please do not hesitate to do
so using the details below and quoting reference number CL13421CB.

Kind regards

Customers and Engagement Officer

Cumbria and Lancashire
Environment Agency

Ghyll Mount, Gillan Way, Penrith 40 Business Park, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11
9BP

 

 

Email: [3][email address]

 

 

I would be very grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to fill in
the survey below about our service.  This will help us to improve our
service in the future.

[4]http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Environme...

 

 

Follow us on Twitter @EnvAgencyNW
Visit the website - [5]https://www.gov.uk/environment-agency

Visit our blog - [6]https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/

 

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CMBLNC Info Requests, Environment Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Lang

Enquiry regarding flood prevention, River Greta, Keswick, Cumbria

 

Thank you for your enquiry which was received on 18 May 2016

 

We respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

I am writing in response to your email dated 18^th May 2016, and regarding
the accumulation of gravel in the River Greta in Keswick.

Dredging and clearing channels are important parts of the Environment
Agency’s maintenance regime. These activities are done where they will
improve the channel’s ability to carry increased river flows. In some
circumstances dredging is not the best long-term or economic solution
compared with other flood risk measures such as building walls or
providing storage upstream.

The effectiveness of dredging varies substantially on every stretch of
river and where we maintain the watercourses an assessment for where it is
necessary is carried out on a location by location basis. There are a
number of locations in Cumbria where the management of flood risk from
main river depends on the removal of gravel to a predetermined level.
These rivers are monitored closely for the accumulation of gravel and
material is removed when volumes are determined to increase flood risk.
For example, gravel is regularly removed from the River Greta in Keswick.
We closely monitor the gravel build up in Keswick, and when the
accumulation reaches a certain trigger level, we remove the surplus
gravel.

 

During times of major flooding, gravel is sometimes deposited in volumes
not normally experienced, as was the case in December 2015. Therefore, as
a result of this we will carry out additional survey work. We have
undertaken an assessment of the river channel throughout Keswick and have
already removed accumulated gravel in the Youth Hostel and Pencil Factory
areas. Detailed surveys have been carried out at key gravel monitoring
locations to determine whether further gravel removal is required and if
necessary we will undertake the removal as soon as practicable.

 

Whilst dredging at key locations in Keswick does provide some additional
channel capacity which helps to reduce flood risk, it is important to note
that during a flood event of the magnitude of early December that
regardless of the amount of dredging undertaken the river channel would
not have been able to cope with the huge volume of water flowing through
Keswick.

 

In the immediate aftermath of the flood event we undertook inspections of
rivers and flood defences in Keswick and removed debris and blockages in
watercourses to aide conveyance. Regarding your query of our plans for the
double arch bridge near Crossthwaite Road, we are now in the process of
collating and reviewing all the flood event information and we are working
closely with other risk management authorities to ensure that all sources
of flood risk are understood in Keswick. The information gathered will
inform a review of the performance of the Keswick defences against their
design criteria. This includes reviewing the role that Greta Bridge plays
in relation to flooding in Keswick. Any improvements that are possible
will then be considered.

 

I hope that you will find the above helpful and would like to reassure you
that any findings of our investigations which could lead to a reduction in
flood risk will be seriously considered.

 

I have also attached our Standard Notice or licence which explains the
permitted use of this information.

 

Please get in touch if you have any further queries or contact us within
two months if you’d like us to review the information we have sent.

 

Kind regards

 

Customers and Engagement Officer

Cumbria and Lancashire
Environment Agency

Ghyll Mount, Gillan Way, Penrith 40 Business Park, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11
9BP

 

 

Email: [1][email address]

 

 

I would be very grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to fill in
the survey below about our service.  This will help us to improve our
service in the future.

[2]http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Environme...

 

 

Follow us on Twitter @EnvAgencyNW
Visit the website - [3]https://www.gov.uk/environment-agency

Visit our blog - [4]https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/

 

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