Station Rd to be closed to tackle flooding problem.

Morrisons Crossing flooding to be tackled

Station Road closed outside Morrisons

After a hard fought campaign, with members of the Focus Team pushing officers on a regular basis to get something done, we are delighted to announce that on Monday 11th S Glos is going try to do something about the flooding on the crossing when it rains. its a complete mess on a wet day with people wading through water and getting splattered by cars. Because it means closing the road we have been pushing S Glos to do it now, during lockdown, when the roads are a bit quieter. They have now agreed, so Station Rd will be closed outside Morrisons from Monday for up to 21 days. We don't think it will take that line, but they always give some leeway.

This has been a longstanding problem, and we are delighted we have managed to get it pushed to the top of the queue at last.

Council agrees to investigate flooding at Morrisons to Armadillo crossing

Some news. Earlier this week we blogged about flooding in the MIU car park. One resident asked Focus for an update on the terrible problems with flooding at the pedestrian lights from Morrisons to the Armadillo.

Waiting at Morrisons to cross when it has been raining you get soaked by passing cars and then often the pool of water is so deep it gets into people's shoes as they try to cross.

This has been going on for years -and the Focus Team have raised it any number of times with officials. South Glos has had various attempts to find the cause (it is not anything obvious and seems to date back to when Morrisons was part of Newman's factory and where the water went then - as one effort to solve it concluded all the water just goes into a soak away under Morrison's car park so when the water table is high it just sits there with nowhere to go!!)

But today we got a response from South Glos, which for the first time recognised how serious the problem is. They've run out of simple solutions - the next investigation will involve closing the road for two days whilst they dig up quite a big area and try to track what is going on.

S Glos say:
"As you have said it’s an issue that has been on-going on for some time now. We have tried to resolve this issue in the past and have recently utilised a lane closure in an attempt to determine the issue without much success. 

The next step would be to close the road and spend a good couple of days locating where the fault/faults are. A road closure will cause some disturbance but we believe it needs to be done. At present this is not a high priority, we have had some major floods over the last few weeks and we must tackle these first.

Its on the to do list and we will have to find a slot to do the work."

We have gone back to South Glos to suggest that it whilst nobody like road closures, we all want this sorted as soon as possible - doing it at the same time as they close Church Rd for resurfacing this summer would make sense (although if we have a dry summer that would be useless - it needs to be when there is water around......)

Our thanks to S Glos officers for replying so quickly - now to find a slot to do the investigations. 

flooded MIU car park

Everywhere locally is waterlogged, drains and ground drainage is not coping.  But when four bays at the MIU are effectively out of action because the surface water sitting there is too deep to get from the car to the MIU without getting very wet feet over you shoes, something needs to be done. By definition those using the car park are NHS patients and the last thing they need on top of the thing they've gone to the MIU or doctor with is soaking feet or trying to get through water when you have a mobility problem. We have asked the authorities to identify the underlying problem and solve it as soon as possible.  (Of course it is nothing compared to the terribly flooding people in so many places are enduring, but it still needs tackling.

We are lucky that so far the flood detention measures on the Frome through Sodbury and Yate have done just enough to keep it out of homes here. Back in November the Environment Agency was planning to demonstrate their plans for holding back the flood water to the East of St John's way to give our town more protection. They had to cancel it on the day as staff had travelled north to help with the November floods. And since then it has been non stop for them tackling problems. They will demonstrate their plans for our area as soon as they get a moment. Meanwhile, thanks to all of them for all their work.

Flooding on Greenways Road

We hope this might now be over. After years of problems with water  coming from the Quarry direction across the road towards Wiltshire Ave and Dorset Way  - new ditches have been put in to try to prevent water reaching the road.
The Local Flood Authority (South Glos Council)  have got the quarry to carry out investigations. They identified a lot of water ponds at the top of the hill following use of the dust suppression machines (something we and residents had been pointing out). They are now going to carry out dye tests to see whether the water at the top is the source of the problem. They are going to monitor the new ditch over a period, and compare that with the dust suppression system use as well to see if there is a link.  The aim is to find a more permanent solution.
Meanwhile, let us hope the new ditch helps. Thanks to the dogged residents and councillors who have fought to get action - and to the officers who are on the case.

The photo shows the problem on the right, at the start of the works.