A road in Margate is the first one in the county that will be transformed as part of work to reduce storm overflows.
Combined sewers are unable to hold the large volumes of rainwater the country now has so to help prevent flooding and storm overflows, Southern Water and Kent County Council are introducing a series of sustainable drainage systems (SuDs) to soak up rainwater and stop it running into the sewers.
Gloucester Avenue in Margate is the first in the county to undergo the work to deliver rain gardens, tree pits, water butt and swales on 5000m of currently impermeable surfacing.
The scheme is designed and funded by Southern Water, with Kent County Council’s Highways team carrying out the work.
The overall cost of the work is around £400,000 and it is due to be completed by early May.
The work to install SuDs at this road will help slow the flow water entering the sewer system when it rains – with up to 88,000 litres of water managed over 0.55 hectares.
The work will also provide nectar rich planting for bees and butterflies and the planting of new trees which can help to cool the urban environment during heatwaves.
Southern Water is working across Kent to reduce storm overflows, including in Margate, Deal and Whitstable – with further work and schemes due to be announced this year. The work is part of Southern Water’s £1.5bn Clean Rivers and Seas Plan.
Jerome Corcoran, from Southern Water’s Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force, said: “We’re excited to be working closely with Kent County Council to make this road greener and help slow the flow of water running off roads and entering our sewer network.
“We’re sorry for any disruption this is causing customers in the area, but the benefits will be felt by helping us reduce storm overflows so we can play our part in creating healthier rivers and seas.”
Southern Water and Kent County Council will be looking at further roads across the county where similar schemes can be carried out.
Rob Thomas, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “I am pleased that we are working collaboratively with Southern Water to find sustainable solutions that will reduce storm overflows across the county, starting with Gloucester Avenue in Margate.
“Flooding has a serious impact on Kent communities and with increasing periods of intensive rainfall, the council is committed to working with partners on finding ways to minimise the impacts and better manage surface water.”
All those nice grassed areas in the plan. Like so many roads in Thanet I suspect it won’t be long before vehicles park on them and they will all be ruined 😒
Four hundred thousand pounds of taxpayers money spent on doing up one road. You couldn’t make it up!
“The scheme is designed and funded by Southern Water” !!
If it works, it will be well worth the effort.
When flooding occurs, £M of damage to homes and business premises is done.
And this is basically a one-off cost.
They are doing this in a North London borough as well. It is futureproofing and it is worth it. I do hope idiots will not park all over it, Hopefully it will be raised up enough to stop dumwit drivers.
Maybe if the drains were kept clean and clear the water would flow away when it rained
The drains were d3signed to cope with the rainfall of 100 years ago. Because of Climate change, we’re now having to endure episodes of a month’s rain falling in a few hours.
No matter how clear the drains wouldn’t cope. And if they did, then the water flow would overwhelm the treatment works.
Afraid not-the yearly rainful in 1923 was higher than that of 2023. Some recent years have been very low-it has always been highly variable.
What’s important is not the rainfall figure averaged out over a year, but the intensity of the rainfall at a particular time.
For example, if a month’s rain falls in a few hours (as has happened all too frequently lately), and none in the rest of the year, then the averaged annual figures will be very low.
But, for the few hours that it does rain, there will be extensive flooding.
Which always has & always will be the case, it has nothing to do with climate change.
Andrew spends most of his spare time building an Ark!
Gloucester Avenue doesn’t suffer from flooding, so why was this road chosen? This avenue very gently slopes down from Northdown Road to Palm Bay Avenue, so with heavy rain, the water flows down the avenue. To spend £400,000 on somewhere that hasn’t had a problem in the 33 years I’ve lived just around the corner is ludicrous.
Surely this sort of experimental project should be done somewhere that has had flooding problems.
Who are the people that made this decision??????? And the cost of it will be on all our water bills.
I agree with you it does seem pointless doing this on a road that never floods, so I can only assume they are doing it there so that in say 5yrs time they can say look how well the solution has worked it hasn’t flooded in the last 5yrs all while grinning and patting each other on the back.
You say that the water flows down the gently sloping Gloucester Ave …. to flood elsewhere, down stream.
The point of this scheme is to prevent flooding at the source.
Gloucester Ave slopes down to the cliffs and the sea!
that money could have filled in an awful lot of potholes in thanet ! no – just another vanity project for someone ?
Southern Water don’t fill potholes! But they could have spent the money clearing out the countless clogged up street drains. Or if they are trialling new ways to lessen the amount of water which goes into the sewers and subsequently spills into the sea, they should have done it on a street which as flooding problems.
This wouldn’t be needed if people stopped concreting over their front gardens to build car parks.
WWith recent events experiencing a month’s rain falls in a few hours, serious infrastructure responses are needed.
Permeable parking spaces would be a start.
A few front gardens… no problem. The ONLY problem is TDC not only allowing, but actually forcing the decimation of acres and acres of green space and land.
TDC have deliberately made the decision to over-develop every single bit of land you can fit a few house bricks on and you see the results everyday. Gridlocked traffic, roads in ruins and pavements choked with parked cars.
It would be interesting to see where the brown envelopes went?
TDC= Total Destruction of our Communities.
A lot of front gardens are being-or have already been- concreted over.
I don’t think TDC is happy with the amount of homes being built on greenfield sites. But it’s difficult to refuse permission.
how about doing St Peters Rd, that constantly floods if they put in drainage into the fields and filtered the water into a giant resevoir the farmer could use the water for his crop
The part of that road that floods is Dane Court Road,and comes under KCC and not Southern Water or TDC .Tried to get an answer from KCC councillors for the St Peter’s /Dane Court Road but one stated the flooded part is not in his constituency ( but his constituents use that road) and the other said the kcc engineers have no idea on how to sort it out
How about down the hill from the vets to Victoria traffic lights, very wide pavement there.
Agree with JJ… Too many lazy, ignorant people parking on the grass verges will soon ruin all their hard work. Council should enforce decent parking on roads like this
Nothing new, why do you think avenues were called avenue , …… could have been because the road was lined by trees. One drawback would be leaves not being swept up by non existent road sweepers.
Non-existent road sweepers? I can tell you TDC do have an occasional road-sweeper. He use to park his barrow in a small culvert opposite my work and dissappear for hours at a time.
It’s a TDC problem… if they aren’t working from home (lying on the couch watching TV) then they are off skiving somewhere else. TDC is full of lazy, clock-watching jobsworths.
I often see road-sweeper sin Ramsgate and they’re always at work.
Repent now!
Piss off, Checksfield .
Yet more intelligent debate from our resident loony.
My 9.07 comment is, of course, “Piss off” from “Mike Bassett”.
“Mike Bassett”
Barmy.
“sweepers in”, of course – so Checksfield needn’t point it out.
I’m not a “loony”; I’m not “barmy”. I’m tired of being insulted by Peter Checksfield.
“Mike Bassett”
Whatever, Bertie.
Southern Water doing something positive for a change? Keep it up, goys.
“Goys” is Yiddish for “Gentiles”, i.e. people who aren’t Jewish.
Lovely ol’ Thanet. Onwards and upwards 👍
Funded by Southern Water-does that mean the bosses & shareholders are reducing or even just freezing their mammoth pay packets & foregoing their obscene bonuses? Or does it mean the txpayer is funding it as usual? I think we know the answer.
Similar thing on the green triangle between Canterbury Rd, Waverley and George V Ave in Westbrook. Been there 5-6 years I think. Really nice and in spring a beautiful canopy of flowering trees. Not vandalised- not parked on.
I have mixed feelings over this, as basically they’ve simply converted a green space that was already there instead of adding aa new one.