Summit to prepare Gloucestershire before it gets ‘hit by flooding’

Gloucestershire has been affected by increasingly frequent flooding in recent years including the torrential downpours experienced on the night of June 12, 2023.

As a result, Gloucestershire County Council has agreed to hold a meeting with partners such as the Environment Agency, water companies and district and parish councils.

They say extreme weather events such as flooding are set to increase as a consequence of climate change.

And they want to discuss how adequate plans can be put in place and tested to reduce the ongoing threat of flooding.

Gloucestershire County Councillor David Drew (L, Stroud Central), who put forward the motion at Shire Hall on September 12, said it was a cry for help.

He spoke of Slad Road which, like many other parts of the county, floods regularly.

“We’ve got town, parish, district and county councils, Severn Trent and the Environment Agency.

"We need to clarify where we are with who does what, [that] is the point of this summit,” he said.

“A subsequent task force could come out of the summit to look at areas which are particularly affected.

“It should look at difficult areas and see what resilience can be put in place. We need to do this across the board.”

He said communities need resilience and his motion noted how the county’s highways adverse weather plan has been tested after the events in 2007, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2020.

This weather plan and other action plans should be tested during the summit to reduce the ongoing threat of flooding and improve responses to it.

Councillor Graham Morgan (L, Cinderford), who seconded the motion, said he is saddened by the thought of more flooding in the county and echoed Cllr Drew’s comments.

“Sometime, we are going to get an event in this county. It saddens me.

“We just know that we’re going to get hit. It’s a plea really for us to get a grip of this because we just know we are going to be hit sooner or later.”

The motion was approved unanimously.