Work to improve flood risk management in South End Green
Camden is working in partnership with the City of London on reducing the risk of flooding in South End Green.
Our Flood Risk Management Strategy sets out our approach to managing flood risk across Camden working closely with partner agencies, businesses, households and communities.
In the past few years at locations across Camden, including South End Green, we have experienced more frequent instances of flash flooding, yet another reminder of the reality of the Climate Emergency.
Camden is the designated Lead Local Flood Authority for the borough, however this does not mean we can achieve everything alone and we are working with partners to identify new opportunities and funding, as well as encouraging everyone to take action to reduce the risk of flooding.
We expect to see increased rainfall in the years to come. While we cannot prevent flooding from happening entirely, we will do everything we can to reduce it.
Experience has shown how important it is to work across Councils, water companies, emergency services and with residents and businesses to deal with extreme weather events like these.
The City of London, with our encouragement and support, is currently installing a natural flood management scheme to the south of the East Heath car park. This work aims to stop rainwater from running off the Heath onto East Heath Road which in turn can cause flooding in South End Green.
It is achieving this by diverting the rainwater run-off into a natural and existing area on edge of the Heath.
This scheme has also been complemented by Camden led improvements to the drainage infrastructure in South End Green itself. Work has involved increasing the openings in a number of identified existing gullies as well as the introduction of new gullies that will maximise the use of an existing large diameter Thames Water combined sewer in the area.
Councillor Harrison continued:
“In the two and a half years since publishing our Flood Risk Management Strategy, we have made good progress toward enhancing flood risk management in Camden, and we will continue to do what we can to green up our streets, including in South End Green.
“We have introduced Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) at identified locations across the borough to help mitigate periods of heavy rainfall, while also de-paving streets, turning the grey to green, and continuing to increase the number of new trees and therefore the tree canopy throughout Camden.
“One example being an innovative and award-winning SuDS on Parliament Hill, which saw the installation combined with gas mains replacement works in collaboration with Cadent Gas, minimising disruption for residents and people travelling through the area.
“We have also been pressing hard for the Thames Water part of the sewer network to expand to cope with more frequent large storm events.
“We actively monitor all higher risk areas, and our gully crews inspect all drains to ensure they are free of leaves and debris.”
Further work is planned on the Heath to continue to help manage rainwater run-off with schemes planned at Parliament Hill and to the east of the fairground area above Hampstead No1 pond. The Council has also recently approved an ordinary water course application by the City of London to introduce various natural flood risk management measures on the Heath that will further slow the rate at which water reaches the various ponds. The ponds benefitted from significant dam improvement works in 2015-16.