A Sunderland councillor has praised efforts to floodproof his local town, following a £48,000 investment in new anti-flood measures.
Cllr Kevin Johnston, Labour councillor for Copt Hill, has campaigned for three years for improved anti-flood measures at Houghton-le-Spring’s Market Place.
The area has suffered from flooding on multiple occasions over recent years, despite prevention work being completed on the culvert in the town in 2020.
However, now that work on a £48,000 project to install additional ‘property level protection’ (PLP) measures has come to a close, Cllr Johnston is hopeful that it will put an end to the misery of residents whose homes have been struck by flooding.
“We have seen first-hand over recent years just how devastating an impact flooding can have on the lives of those impacted by it, so we’re absolutely delighted to see this work come to a close,” Cllr Johnston said.
“We’ve seen belongings and property damaged; streets left looking inhabitable, and people’s day-to-day lives grind to a halt due to repeated flooding at Market Place and these additional PLP measures will hopefully spell an end to that once and for all.
“It’s a huge victory for everyone who has campaigned with us on this issue and the town as a whole.”
Kevin, who has served as a councillor for the last seven years, campaigned for flood defence works on the town’s Gravel Walks culvert which led to the original defences being brought forward in 2020.
The culvert carries water flow from Houghton Burn to the junction of Gravel Walks, before falling back into the burn. The new defences however – which will see flood doors applied to the front and rear of the properties worst affected by flooding, non-return valves on plumbing, and air vent shields to front and rear walls – are expected to prevent further damage to properties in the area with extra protection against flooding for the worst-affected homes.
He added: “So severe was the flooding of Market Place that the original measures installed were soon overrun, leading to us demanding a full investigation into why it was happening and what needed to be done to prevent it from happening again.
“After liaising with residents and the Council, we were able to secure further funding from both the Environment Agency and Sunderland City Council to significantly ramp up the flood protection measures and hopefully this prevents those that live on the street from ever having to endure this again.”