Valley Park has been in the news recently when last week it was visited by travellers, but it is again in focus for a different reason now – flood risk assessment.
On Monday, June 8, there was a review of the maintenance requirements of the sustainable drainage system (SUDS) at Valley Park by the Rye Emergency Action Community Team (REACT) and the directors of Valley Park Estate Ltd, which looks after the estate for all the home owners.
When the estate was developed over 10 years ago, a SUDS was designed to channel surface water downhill into the two retention basins and then to control egress into the “Pottingfield Petty Sewer” which is a traditional marsh drainage channel separating Valley Park from Tilling Green. The surface water includes water from springs on farmland to the west of Valley Park.
From the Petty Sewer, water runs northwards via a flap controlled outfall into the river Tillingham. The flap prevents river water from flowing back into the Petty Sewer when the river is high because of heavy rain and / or high tide at the Strand.
For it all to work effectively there is a need for some basic and minimal maintenance of the outflows and ditches, although the latter were intended to be partially filled with grasses and other light vegetation. With more frequent extreme rainfall events the system will become more important in preventing localised flooding in places such as Old Brickyard and the western parts of Tilling Green.
Many may have forgotten the public meeting, attended by some 200 residents, in 2010 at which REACT brought together the developer, Aroncorps, the builder, Jenner, the Environment Agency and Romney Marsh Internal Drainage Board, to explain the SUDS with the aim of allaying concerns that Valley Park would aggravate flood risk to Tilling Green.
The meeting on June 8 provided an opportunity to discuss other related issues such as the recent stopover by travellers, the part planting plays in natural flood management, and the need for an approved waste bin near the footbridge (shown above) from the Old Brickyard into Cooper Road.
Image Credits: Anthony Kimber .