Beverley Westwood tank 'won't stop flooding'

YORKSHIRE Water's plans to stop homes flooding next to Beverley Westwood have been criticised.

Retired land drainage expert John Goodman, who lives in Beverley, says the scheme will do "almost nothing" to avert a repeat of the 2007 floods.

Yorkshire Water has said its soon-to-be-completed £1m tank next to Willow Grove at the edge of Beverley Westwood will alleviate the risk there.

But Mr Goodman, a former land drainage and water supplies officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, fears it will not work.

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He said: "The town has outgrown its sewerage infrastructure.

"This is an attenuation tank. During peak times it relieves the pressure on the system. The surface flooding coming off the Westwood is a different type of run-off.

"The tank would be completely full before that water starts to flow."

Yorkshire Water agrees the attenuation tank is there to collect sewerage and drain water during times of peak flow, rather than water running off the Westwood, but says it will reduce the flood risk.

A spokesman said: "The tank means our sewer network has more capacity so it's less likely to be overwhelmed.

"We hope, with this tank, our sewers won't be overwhelmed and so there will be less risk of flooding.

"We're saying it will reduce the risk of flooding. We will never say that Beverley couldn't flood again."

Mr Goodman, of Grove Close, Beverley, feels people in Willow Grove, who have endured seven months of upheaval without complaint, may have been so patient because they believed the work was designed to stop their homes flooding, which he says it will not do.

He says, even if the tank had been designed to collect run-off from the Westwood, it would not be big enough.

He said: "People aren't better off in ignorance, they need to know the truth."

Mr Goodman also questioned whether, at times of peak flow, the attenuation tank might fill up and then automatically discharge into the sewers at exactly the time they are having to deal with excess run-off.

The Yorkshire Water spokesman said he did not expect the tank to be full very often.

He confirmed the tank had been designed to automatically discharge but that the excess water could be kept in it if that was required.