Rachael
Collins - 12-Sep-2006 - Following the investigation
into the flooding of 2003 and the damage to the
Jubilee River, the Environment Agency today announced
that scheme designers, Lewin Fryer and Partners,
have agreed to pay substantial compensation of
£2.75 million towards the repair and improvement
work undertaken.
South East area flood risk manager
Ian Tomes said: We have successfully completed
several phases of repair and improvement works
since the damage in 2003 restoring the integrity
of the banks and weir structures and maximising
the capacity of the channel. This work has not
only corrected the design faults and repaired
damage, but also resulted in substantial improvements
to the performance of the scheme as a whole. But
this work does not come without a cost, and we
are pleased to have reached a settlement with
Lewin, Fryer and Partners, which will reimburse
us for the repairs to structures and banks.
The Jubilee River, which is
part of the Maidenhead, Windsor & Eton Flood
Alleviation Scheme, protected more than 1,000
properties from flooding in January 2003. But
the channel did suffer some damage during the
incident. Subsequent investigations revealed that
the capacity was less than had been specified
in the original design brief, because the 2003
event gave new flow and level data which was not
available to the original designers.
The damage and lower capacity
did not in any way contribute to downstream flooding
along the River Thames, which was caused by extreme
rainfall.
In February this year the Environment
Agency announced that, as a result of the repair
and improvement works, the capacity of the Jubilee
River had increased from 145 cubic metres per
second to 170 cubic metres per second. The latest
improvements, just completed, have raised the
capacity to 180 cubic metres per second.
Through mediation the Environment
Agency and Lewin Fryer and Partners have spent
several weeks negotiating the terms of the compensation,
avoiding a potentially drawn out and expensive
court case.
Mr Tomes added: All those
involved are pleased that we have been able to
settle this out of court. We are now able to truly
draw a line under this matter and move on focusing
our resources on future flood risk management
for the Lower Thames area.
