Skip to content

Residents 'anxious' to get flood repairs completed

BBC Anthony Nunns staring at the cameraBBC
Fiskerton resident Anthony Nunns says there is concern the local river bank has not yet been repaired

Residents living near a damaged riverbank in Lincolnshire say they are concerned repair work has not yet taken place.

A bank of the River Witham at Fiskerton was damaged during the floods of October 2023 when Lincolnshire was hit by more than two months worth of rain in just 24 hours.

At the time, more than 80 homes in the village were evacuated following concerns they would be flooded.

The Environment Agency said there were plans in place to repair the riverbank and it would "continue to engage" with the community.

Monitoring equipment on the riverbank at Fiskerton. A pole has a solar panel at the top used to the power the equipment below.
The Environment Agency has installed monitoring equipment on the damaged riverbank at Fiskerton

Fiskerton resident Anthony Nunns said he was surprised the repair work had not yet taken place.

"We could do with it fixing as soon as possible really, before the wet weather comes again," he said.

Mr Nunns said there was concern in the community because of widespread flooding in the area last October.

"Looking at comments on social media, there are a lot of people who are anxious, especially this week when the weather looked as though it was going to be horrible again."

Aeriel view of the flooding of the River Witham in Fiskerton. About half of the fields in the picture are under water. The village can be seen to the left of the picture.
The River Witham in Fiskerton came close to flooding homes in the area last October

Lincolnshire was one of the hardest hit counties in last winter's storms.

The Environment Agency said it had identified 23 flood defence schemes in the region that needed work.

At the start of this year, the Agency estimated the repair bill could be about £45m.

Pauline Moore
Pauline Moore fears the riverbank could collapse

Pauline Moore can see the damaged riverbank from the windows of her home in Fiskerton.

“They’ve said they were starting [repair work] in September, I think, but I haven’t even seen anyone look at it,” she said.

“The riverbank will be weak now and it will just collapse if they don’t repair it.”

ovoto.co.uk An overhead picture of the breach in the River Welland at Crowland. Water can be seen gushing through a gap that has emerged in the riverbank and into the field beyond. ovoto.co.uk
A breach in the River Welland at Crowland has now been repaired by the Environment Agency

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We are continuing to work with communities and partners across the county to look at issues from last winter’s storms.

“So far, we have completed a number of emergency repair works including to the left bank of the Maxey Cut, near Tallington, breaches to both banks of the Barlings Eau, near Short Ferry, just outside Lincoln, and further breaches at Bourne Eau and Tattershall.

“We are progressing further plans for work in many other parts of the county which includes Fiskerton and will continue to engage with the community there.”