'I feel both relief and pride' - Major flood defence scheme completed in Bewdley
There were cheers and celebrations among a community as a major flood management scheme designed to protect a notorious flooding area in Bewdley was completed.
Members of the Environment Agency joined civic leaders, including the Mayor of Bewdley Nicole Harper and Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier, and members of the public to see the new installed flood defences at Beales Corner.
The Environment Agency has successfully completed the £10 million Beales Corner Flood Risk Management Scheme in Bewdley, delivering a major upgrade to the town's flood defences that will benefit 50 properties and maintain access to businesses for decades to come.
The 300-metre flood defence system marks the end of two years of hard work and runs from Pleasant Harbour House to Millside Court and includes flood walls, gates and demountable barriers like Severnside.
When flooding is predicted, trained Environment Agency teams will close flood gates and put up the demountable barriers to prevent floodwater from the Severn entering the area.
It means that key roads in the town will now be dry at times of flood, helping to maintain access to schools and businesses and while there will still be some minor landscaping work continuing onwards, the operational completion of the scheme has been achieved.
There were speeches by West Midlands Operations Manager at the Environment Agency Anthony Perry, Councillor Harper and Mr Garnier, all of whom spoke about the long journey to getting the flood management system set up and the effect that flooding had had on Bewdley over the years.
Mark Garnier then officially unveiled a plaque on one of the barriers, which named all the members of the project team and offered thanks to all the organisations and groups which had helped contribute to and support the creation of the barrier.
He said it had been the end of a 15 year journey for him and said he was incredibly proud to see the work completed and the flood defence fully installed.
He said: "I first met with the Environment Agency in 2010, around the time I first became an MP, and we were looking at how we could defend Beales Corner, but the problem was that there's about 27 homes being protected and it was going to cost around £10 million.
"Over the years, we managed to, over the years, start off with property level protection, then persuade the treasury to value the protection on a different basis, so we managed to get the funding and get the support of the Prime Minister to get it started.
"It will make such a change to the people around here as they've had the risk of their homes being flooded and they've not been able to get away because of the threat of flooding and it's lowered the value of their homes, but now that all this is finished, they can now go away through the winter and go away at Christmas and know their property is safe.
"I've been heavily involved in getting this all together, so I'm dead chuffed, but the most important this is not what I feel, but what the town feels and what I hope is that the town gets past the last two years of work and years and years of flooding and they can get on with their lives."
Beales Corner has a long history of flooding from the River Severn, most recently in 2020, 2021 and 2022 where homes and businesses were flooded, and the wider community impacted.
The Mayor said that the area had been affected by flooding for centuries, but was now looking ahead to a brighter future, and spoke of her own pride at the completion of the work.
She said: "It's taken a long time and it means that centuries of flooding which has caused a lot of disruption to the town may now be set to come to an end, so I think residents will be very glad to see the end of it and businesses will be glad to see the trade return.
"A lot of people have been involved, from the Government funding it to Defra and the district council doing to the planning and the Environment Agency doing the project and I think the engineers have done amazing work to get it completed.
"I feel both relief and pride, pride because this amazing work has taken place and relief because it will soon be over."
Anthony Perry said he had been coming to Bewdley for nearly 30 years and had seen the impact it had had on families and said he was really pleased that people in Bewdley wouldn't have to go through that again.
He said: "This system is brilliant and I think the glass panels, the demountable defences and the walls all blend the old and the new well together in a beautiful aesthetic which just connects the town.
“We are thrilled that the much-needed flood risk management scheme at Beales Corner is operationally complete. Environment Agency flood risk teams have worked closely with residents in the town for decades.
“This new scheme will improve the lives for many people in the town, and it is comforting to know that future generations won’t have to live with the negative flood impacts those in the past have suffered.”
