Sutton Bonington

FLOODING REPORT. Notts County Council have produced a report setting out details of problems of flooding in Sutton Bonington earlier this year when homes in the village were seriously affected.

The report says that village is a rural settlement with a population of approximately 2202 at the 2011 Census.an d that on February 16 following the prolonged period of heavy rainfall, five properties on Pasture Lane suffered internal flooding.

“Event investigations have highlighted that a significant surface water route flows from fields to the north of the village under the railway line and then accumulates at the topographical low spot in the village.

The area affected by flooding sits in the south west of the village where the surface water drainage serving the village discharges into a series of ditch systems. The quantity of prolonged rainfall led to the network of ditches becoming overwhelmed, resulting in internally flooded properties.

“Over the weekend of the 15th and 16th of February last year Storm Dennis hit parts of Nottinghamshire with 34mm - an average month’s worth - of rain falling in 48 hours. Across the UK a record 594 flood warnings and alerts were in place over the weekend with 38 flood warnings and 16 flood alerts across Nottinghamshire.

“Storm Dennis followed Storm Ciara which had hit the previous week bringing heavy rain and winds of over 90mph resulting in more than 220 flood warnings and alerts in place across England. Both storm events followed some 6 months of persistent and often heavy rainfall across the UK.”

The County Council report says during Storm Dennis, Via East Midlands Ltd, on behalf of Council facilitated 51 road closures, placed over 70 flood signs on the network to warn motorists and delivered over 4000 sandbags and the Storm is believed to have caused the worst winter floods in recent times, in part because the rain was so widespread but also because the ground was already saturated from Storm Ciara the previous week. It triggered a record-breaking number of Environment Agency flood warnings and alerts in England on Sunday the 16th. A major incident was declared at 07:00 on Sunday the 16th by the Tactical Co-Ordinating Group.

With the ground already saturated following one of the wettest autumn and winter periods on record, the heavy rain that fell on the 16th of February resulted in extensive flooding across the Nottinghamshire area including Sutton Bonington.

The report says post event investigations have highlighted that the exceptional weather and a significant surface water route flow from the agricultural fields to the north under the railway line accumulates at the topographical low spot in the village of Sutton Bonington. The area affected is located to the south west of the village whereby the surface water drainage serving the village discharges into a series of ditch systems. The quantity of prolonged rainfall led to the network of ditches becoming overwhelmed, thus resulting in internally flooded properties.

The County report acknowledges that the Environment Agency greatly assisted the community with the deploying of a pump which was a significant contributing factor to the safety of residents on Pasture Lane and highlights the local community spirit and resilience during the flooding must be recognised, as without their efforts the impacts of the flooding could have been worse.

SCHOOL PLANS. Staff at Sutton Bonington Primary School are looking forward to having all their students back in lessons in September, with Headmaster Lee Shilton saying they had missed the children deeply and school certainly wasn’t the same without them.

“Our aim is to get all children in school as soon as possible but we are governed by government advice in all we do”.

Lee says the staff are working diligently to provide childcare for the children who have critical workers as parents and also for children who are considered vulnerable and together with that, they are uploading weekly home learning activities on the school website.

The Head master has paid tribute to parents and carers for doing an incredible job in what he terms an unprecedented time A recent governor’s meeting came to a decision that the school would close on Friday last week for the children in Reception and Year 1 and open to children in Year 6 in that final week, saying they arrived at this decision as they felt strongly that the Year 6 children deserve a proper goodbye and a chance to see their teachers and friends before the summer holiday begins.

Year 6 students were being welcomed back to school from Tuesday this week until tomorrow ( Thursday) so that they have three days to undertake activities in school and see their friends.

PLANS APPROVED. Rushcliffe Borough Council have approved plans for the conversion of an agricultural building at Sutton Bonington into living accommodation. A design and access statement for the conversion of an agricultural building to a residential dwelling off the village Main street, was submitted to Rushcliffe by Andrew Large Surveyors Ltd, acting on behalf of the applicant Mr S Tivey.

Their statement said the existing building comprised a two-storey agricultural building. The site is presently a 0.8 acre parcel of grazing land with the subject building and collecting yard located in the bottom third of the site with a smaller grazing paddock fronting the road and a larger grazing paddock to the rear of the site. The building concerned comprises a steel portal framed two storey agricultural building with concrete blockwork walls over a concrete base with steel profile sheeting above and to the roof. The site lies partially within the Sutton Bonington Conservation Area.

The report to the Borough said the village has a range of services and facilities including a number of small shops, a post office, village hall , library, primary school, a doctor’s surgery and two pubs. There is also the Soar Valley Garden Railway and the Sutton Bonington University Campus.

The statement went on: “The proposal will contribute to the Council’s five-year housing supply and will also help support local facilities and transport networks in the village and surrounding settlement. The project will help provide work locally during the conversion period.

The site is located within a sustainable village and can help contribute towards the retention of the existing services and facilities available in the village”

Parish councillors commented the site is outside the boundary line of the village and that it is not classed as a barn in the term of its use.