News and Events 

Trees for Corvedale

This is a major community tree-planting project being set up by Friends of the Corve and Teme in artnership with Slow the Flow and Shropshire Wildlife Trust. Funding will be available. Landowners and volunteer tree planters in the Corvedale area willing to get involved are urgently needed. See Trees for Corvedale for details. 

Munslow Flood Action Group

As part of the Slow the Flow initiative, the National Flood Forum set up Flood Action Groups in the Corvedale so that communities were aware of and involved in that project. The Slow the Flow initiative is now coming to an end and is giving way to a different project.  

DEFRA is funding this new project in Corvedale which looks at how they can financially support natural flood risk management in the future. The existing Flood Action Groups have joined together to form a Catchment Group with representatives from each Group, but it is recognised that there is a need to reach out more widely and include more of those people with local knowledge and expertise such as farmers and other landowners. The Catchment Group is very keen for such people to get involved. Once the Catchment Group is finalised the National Flood Forum will draw in all the other partners such as Shropshire Council, Environment Agency, Wildlife Trust and many more. Regular meetings will be arranged by the NFF to provide updates for the Catchment Group members, who will then make the wider community aware of what is happening and how it will affect them. In this way, communities will have a voice in the proceedings. Are you interested in joining a Flood Action Group in Munslow or being a representative on the Catchment Group? 

August 2018 Status report

Friends of the Corve and Teme, Ludlow’s Flood Awareness and River Environment Group, was established in June 2016 with the intention of monitoring the rivers Corve and Teme and implementing actions to alleviate the possible consequences of flooding of land and properties in and around Ludlow.

We talked about using local knowledge to develop and implement a Flood Awareness Plan; we agreed to collect data to better inform actions by individuals, local authorities, responsible agencies, landowners and companies; we take advice in scrutinising new development applications, to see if they meet or improve upon Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) specifications; and we liaise with Shropshire Wildlife’s ‘Slow the Flow’ initiative”, said Rosemary Wood, Chairman of FCT. “But our real successes have been in establishing good working relationships with our relevant agencies and local organisations, listening to residents, and setting achievable targets”.

For instance, by 6.00 am on Sunday 26 May 2018, torrential rain resulted in 8” of water accumulating at the lowest point of one of Ludlow’s streets abutting the river Corve. This was high enough for residents to alert neighbours to move their cars. 'Fountains' had gushed from manhole covers, one of which was the combined water and sewage pipe, and gullies were blocked with mud and debris.

On the following Thursday, 31 May, residents again experienced high levels of water in the road.  Difficult conditions were exacerbated by drivers ignoring the ‘Access Only’ signs: tempers were frayed.  This flood came from surface water only. The drains could not cope with heavy rain falling so quickly. No drains were blocked: the river was low enough for all the water to be taken away as quickly as the drains would allow. No water came up from the river into the road.  But houses were flooded and individuals and families distressed.

A meeting was quickly arranged with our representative on Severn Trent Water, who met and listened to residents. This was followed by a site visit with residents, FCT, the Environment Agency, Shropshire Highways, Shropshire Flood and Water Management Team, and Severn Trent. 

As a result, Severn Trent has arranged CCTV/tracing of the combined sewer and surface water and checked the connectivity of the relevant highway gullies. Shropshire Highways will arrange for drains on two sides of the flood plain to be jetted out immediately, and would also schedule-in the drains to be surveyed and cleaned as necessary four times a year. The Friends said that if they were given advance notice of when the cleaning was to take place, they would ask locals to move their cars. The Highways Authority would put up “no parking” cones the day before. 

Planning permission has recently been granted for a petrol station adjacent to the flood plain. This is now in existence, and residents fear its raised level contributed to drainage problems during the storm. Our representative from the Environment Agency offered to look into this, and will also liaise with the EA Asset Team to see if work should be undertaken on the arches of Corve Bridge. Tree work was a possibility, and decisions would be made with regard to both potential flooding and biodiversity. Discussions with a long-established resident led to the EA flagging up the need to clear vegetation from one of the arches. 

“In themselves, these are small maintenance initiatives”, said Rosemary. “But, in the words of a well-known supermarket, ‘Every little helps…’. Deborah Hall is our contact at the NFF, and her support and advice has been invaluable. Our next step is to make FCT more accessible to the general public, and encourage local people to send us photographs of affected areas. We began life as a ‘river group’, but are finding issues with surface water, drains and planning applications that need to be addressed. 

Ludlow Town Council has also invited FCT to a meeting to discuss Contingency Planning for Ludlow. Whilst our original thought was to monitor local rivers and develop and implement a Flood Awareness Plan, it was not intended to be an action plan in the event of flooding, emergency or evacuation. 

Many years ago, in his poem, “Song of the Three Rivers”, Frances Brett Young wrote: 

“Teme is Severn's wild, sweet daughter, 

A wayward child; and her limpid water 

Gushes and wells from the gentle rills 

That trickle from the Kerry hills” 

Our local rivers are so special, and so dangerous! 

  Ludlow Flood Action Group 

Ludlow’s Flood Action Group came into being after Friends of the Corve and Teme called a public meeting in July 2016 to discuss possible flood defence measures. Since then, the Group has met twice to discuss the first draft of Ludlow’s proposed Flood Action Plan, and once with representatives of the national flood agencies to consider various avenues of action.  Anyone concerned with flooding issues along the catchment of the Corve and Teme is invited to attend meetings or submit comments for discussion.

On 28 February 2017 at the Feathers Hotel, Ludlow, the first multi-agency meeting was held to discuss Ludlow’s Flood Action Plan. This was attended by members of Ludlow’s Flood Action Group and representatives of the Environment Agency, Shropshire Council, Severn Trent Water, Shropshire Highways, Shropshire Council Flood and Water Management Team, Ludlow Town Council, Severn Rivers Trust and Teme Weirs Trust.  A large number of actions was agreed, including some updates to this web site and the organisation of the site visit mentioned above. 

Notes from FCT's public meetings held so far can be found here:

• 22 September 2016 
• 28 February 2017