OneGuyFromBarlick

WATERY MATTERS 2016

I see from this week's BET that householders in Earby who applied for grants to do flood protection measures on their properties have been knocked back. Well done David Whipp for raising the matter and protesting. I seem to remember a certain David Cameron (Who he?) saying that “money is no object. The government will spend what is necessary”, it appears that as the floods recede, so do the good intentions and one begins to wonder why we have Central Government at all when all they seem to do is divest themselves of responsibility by devolving it to local councils whose funding they then cut! I had better not go too far down that route.....
Mind you, in some ways we are lucky, apart from the fact that we are on a watershed between the Ribble and Aire river catchments which means we do not have to deal with other people's run-off, we don't have beavers either! Of late I have been watching videos on You-tube of the problems that they have to deal with in North America when beavers build dams across watercourses and create their own private lakes. If you have an idle hour go and look for them, I promise you'll find them interesting!
As you know, I have an interest in culverts, put in over a century ago when water management was a fact of life for industrialists, but all to often forgotten until they cause a problem. I see also in the paper that the site of Oak Bank Mill in Colne is to be developed. Funnily enough we had a discussion on our website Oneguyfrombarlick earlier this week when the question was asked, 'Where did Oak Bank get its water from for cooling the condenser on the engine?'. We finally decided that there must be a beck culverted under the mill and they used that because the mill never had a lodge. I hope the developers are aware of this, otherwise they could get a nasty surprise. Studying local history can be useful at times!
I also noted that the retaining wall to divert surface water in the Rolls Royce playing fields at the end of Ghyll Lane is in place now. Hopefully that will lessen the chance of the excess flowing into the housing across the road. This is good but it strikes me that there are no simple solutions in Earby because unlike Barlick they have to deal with the water coming down off Weets and into Salterforth bottoms via County Brook. For as long as I can remember parts of the town have been prone to flooding, Water Street (!) and Lane Ends in particular but in the latest episode Victoria Road as well. I don't know what can be done about that unless it is to divert all that water into the canal at County Brook Mill and get rid of it that way. Another area where judicious government investment could pay off. Don't hold your breath!



'Water Street living up to its name in August 2004.'

Thanks Stanley.

Consultants are working on the problem of flooding in Earby but it'll be the middle of next year before we have a report. The sort of things they'll be looking at include upstream storage (creating washlands), perhaps a diversion of Earby Beck to below the town in flood conditions, maybe some raising of parapets...

In Barlick, the study being carried out under Pendle Council supervision into possible ways of reducing the risk at Ghyll Meadows is well underway. All being well, it may be possible to increase the capacity of the remaining length of original culvert under the estate and reduce the risk of flooding to a very great degree.

That lorry is a good example of the waves and spray that that result from driving too fast in a flood and end up soaking areas that otherwise wouldn't be reached by the water. That sort of thing happened here during the floods - houses that were just above the flood water level got flooded by vehicles causing large waves. Major culprits were idiots in big 4x4 vehicles showing off.

Very true Tizer. We had some idiots driving through the water during Earby's flood in September creating bow waves that overcame sandbag defences. It's one of the things we try and guard against with road closures and barriers.

I remember once coming back to Leeds from York with the tanker and to avoid delays due to the floods I went direct through Cawood where there was a wooden bridge over the Ouse. The road bed was under two feet of water which was interesting! The road through the middle of the village was flooded and I remember some of the locals appreciating the fact that I trickled through in crawler gear to avoid making a wave. So easy to make things much worse.

One of the main A roads here now has locking gates covering about a one-mile stretch. There are no houses by the road, it runs between fields, and the gates are to stop people from driving into the floods which can be several feet deep.

Bumped and image restored.

These watery matters articles should never be forgotten..... The basic problems are still with us.

Still important issues that should be watched!