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Marlow flood alleviation scheme gets the go-ahead

| January 27, 2015

Work on a flood alleviation scheme to protect homes in the Pound Lane and Firview areas of the Marlow will begin in June 2015 following confirmation that the £8.5 million cost has been covered.

A consortium of councils and the Environment Agency have been working together to find funding for the project after peart of Marlow were left under several feet of flood water during the severe weather of winter 2013/2014.

The Government is contributing £3.25m, Buckinghamshire County Council has given £1.25m and Marlow Town Council £60,000. Wycombe District Council will provide officer time and expertise.

Confirmation that the remaining £4m would come from the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee Local Levy was announced on Monday 26th January 2015.

Led by the Environment Agency (EA) the project will involve building protective earth embankments, excavating flood attenuation ponds and installing heavy-duty pumps to control surface water levels between homes in Pound Lane and Fairview and the River Thames.

The scheme is expected to take around five years to complete.

Preparation, such as archaeological recording, site access and temporary road closure notices needed at times during the work is being handled by the Environment Agency.

Lesley Clarke OBE, Buckinghamshire’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning, said: ‘This is an excellent example of working together speedily to identify funding for a critically important scheme. This really is good news for our hard-hit residents, whose lives became a misery last winter. I applaud their resilience.

Karen Fisher, Buckinghamshire County Council’s Lead Flood Officer, said that Marlow suffered on three fronts during bad storms: accumulated rainwater, overflow from the rising Thames level, and a rising water table.

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