Flood Wall

To Be or Not to Be? That Is the Question

The National Rivers Authority, with all its expert engineers and financiers, is all set for carrying out the next phase of its proposed flood alleviation works

Reproduced from Dorset a Photographic Atlas, copyright Dorset County Council

Newcomers may need to be told that in May 1979 we had a flood, with the river coming from the meadows over West Street into the Market Place, and then flowing down the alleyways to join the floods which had inundated the gardens and some of the buildings.

West Street 1979	East Street 1979
Market Place 1979

We have slides showing the views down these alleys, including those in East Street, and from the windows of Stour House (which being on higher ground was not flooded). In December 1979 there was another flood, about 18 inches higher ? almost up to the Sports Shop window sill.
The first phase of the NRA scheme was the bank in the meadows and the raising of the car park south of Safeways. The next phase is a wall planned to link the maximum flood height at West Street (near the wooden cafe) to the base of the garden wall at the corner of Stour House in Common Lane. It would then continue as the east wall of Stour House garden and link up to a new bank skirting south of the Langton Road car park.
The District Council's Planning Committee gave the NRA's planning application for the wall due public consideration and granted permission.