Heavy Rain Not A Problem For Cranbrook

East Devon District Council has been happy to report that the new town of Cranbrook in East Devon was unaffected by the recent bad weather and its drainage system has coped magnificently against unprecedented levels of rain.

This first major test of the new community drainage system has proven that local concerns about flooding were unfounded, but as Cllr Andrew Moulding, Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Partnerships explains, this was no surprise to East Devon District Council:

“The only thing Cranbrook’s been flooded with is unfounded rumours. We did not expect there to be any problems at Cranbrook during the heavy rain because none of the newly built development, not the properties or public buildings are built in a flood plain. We were also confident that our work with the developers and the Environment Agency during the planning phase meant that we had put every measure in place to protect the town in the event of such extreme weather.”

The new town of Cranbrook, and all the associated developments of the Growth Point were only granted planning permission after extensive consultation with the Environment Agency.

Any visible excess water on site is likely to be either surface water that has collected on land which has yet to be developed and is not yet served by drains and sewers or areas of land specifically designed to hold excess water: Often referred to as attenuation ponds or flood basins, these areas of land have been designed into the developments as part of the flood drainage scheme. During excessive rain they create pools of water, which may have sparked some of the rumours, but these ponds are simply a sign that the defences are doing their job.

East Devon District Council believes that the recent rain was a strong test of the town’s drainage systems and proof that the flooding concerns raised by objectors to the new community weren’t valid.

Mike Owen Project Manager, on behalf of the consortium of Developers at Cranbrook said “Anyone with concerns about Cranbrook can see from the Environment Agency website that Cranbrook is not at risk from flooding. We have been working closely with the Environment Agency on Cranbrook for many years now and have a drainage strategy in place based on their recommendation, the drainage infrastructure for Cranbrook is being provided in accordance with that strategy.”

Tania Beard is Headteacher of Cranbrook’s new primary school, St. Martin’s. She said “We didn’t have any problems at all during the recent bad weather; in fact the school was bone dry. Nevertheless we took several calls from people commiserating us on the floods, based solely on what they’d heard on the grapevine. It’s a shame that a few people continue to spread anti-Cranbrook rumours – the truth is we’ve been happy, productive and dry.”

Demand for properties at Cranbrook remains high, the developers have now built the foundations for 400 homes, of these all but 5 are either sold, reserved or allocated to the Housing Associations.

For more information about Cranbrook or the other projects that make up the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point visit: www.exeterandeastdevon.gov.uk