Invest In Flood Defences Not A Barrage!

Jack Davenport, Preston City Councillor for Riversway ward, called in a letter in the Lancashire Evening Post today for money that the Council and Vision Board are planning to waste on feasibility studies into the unwanted Ribble Barrage, to be used instead on investigating the improvement of Preston's flood defences.

His call is underlined by disastrous flooding in Hull, Doncaster, Tewkesbury, Gloucester and many other parts of the UK.

Even a cursory visual inspection of the 'panel and post' flood defences along Broadgate shows that they are old and showing worrying signs of deterioration.


This is just one of a number of pillars with large vertical cracks.

Here are a few more:








It seems likely that in winter when water turns into ice inside these cracks, it will cause them to worsen.


This is where a small vertical crack meets a horizontal crack in one of the panels, that extends for several feet.


Tree roots are also making their way beneath the flood barrier and breaking the pavement on the other side.




The faces of some of the panels are worn, showing rusty steel underneath.


Despite recent flash flooding, the council has done nothing to clear blocked drainage in the area.

The flood defences protect a large amount of local housing.

We at Save The Ribble are not experts on Flood Defences, but we share residents' concerns about these cracks, and about the post and panel flood defences that should now be upgraded given the clear threat of flooding when the river is in spate, a risk that any kind of obstruction in the river, like a barrage, can only exacerbate.