FLOOD RISK IN AND AROUND STAINES
A MAJOR CHALLENGE TO COUNCIL’S HOUSING PLANS
Flooding and flood risk is already a major and increasing problem for communities in many parts of the UK. Quite apart from the damage and human tragedy a flood can cause, increasing flood risk impacts the cost (even availability) of property insurance in affected areas … and flood risk is increasing in and around Staines, with the significant risk of Spelthorne Borough Council’s current development plans for the town adding to this.
Staines and the area around it on both sides of the river have a very particular and growing flood risk problem, not only from the river and surface water run-off; but because of the powerful and wildly variable ‘hidden’ water flows through the thin layer of gravel on which the town is built. The scale of this increasing problem was revealed for the first time only last year by the dramatic findings of a scientific study by Royal Holloway, University of London.
The research presents a major challenge to Spelthorne Borough Council’s current plans to add close to three-and-a-half thousand new homes in Staines, mostly in tower blocks of flats across the town. Important to note also, the River Thames Scheme, which is expected to lower the level of the river during a flood, will not reduce the impact of underground water flows on flood risk in the town. All of this has to be seen also in the context of further increasing flood risk in the future from ‘climate change’.
To see a layperson’s guide to flooding in Staines click here
To listen to a Recording of Spelthorne Councillors’ discussion of the Royal Holloway research click here (Meeting scheduled for 2 June 2025).