COMMUNICATION between flood resilience experts and communities has been lacking, residents and parish councillors said at an annual flood resilience meeting organised by Cotswold District Council (CDC) and MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

The meeting on Friday, November 25 brought together representatives from Thames Water, the Environment Agency, CDC, Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) and parish and town councils.

GCC reported that a Cirencester flood study was being funded to look into water storage areas north west of the town.

They pointed out difficulties as a county-wide organisation with a limited budget. Other difficulties included homeowners who were unwilling to report cases of flooding.

Thames Water said that their drainage strategy in Cirencester was working well and that they were better equipped in the last winter compared to previous winters, preventing any flooding from affecting residents.

Work to improve response times was ongoing, the Environment Agency reported, and there has been £55,000 worth of maintenance in the Cotswolds this year, with 13km of maintenance completed to date.

With regards to flood action groups in parishes and towns, CDC councillor Sue Coakley confirmed that the district council would continue to take over the management of flood action groups.

She said: “It is right to say it has improved communication. Residents can communicate with agencies and agencies to residents.”

Shaun Parsons, CDC councillor, however said: “There’s a lot of work in progress but not much is seen as yet. I get the feeling that the communication with what’s going on locally is not as good as it should be.

“The maintenance is very much appreciated but there is never any communication locally what you are going to do.”

Fairford town councillor Richard Harrison said the town's main concern was with sewage system capacity.

He said: “We have had some issues with the planning process particularly related to a site in Cirencester Road.

“We have had conflicting information from Thames Water and from what we were hearing from developers via CDC, which has caused a lot of anxiety.”

He said that there should be more clarification before planning permissions were granted: “How do we make sure that the infrastructure are developed in time and that they do not impose big risk?”

A Fairford resident said she was told by Thames Water that the sewage system was full and asked how the town could accommodate 48 new houses.

When she mentioned an incident in January where seven houses suffered internal flooding, Thames Water admitted that they did not have any knowledge of the incident.

She also expressed concern that the town’s water storage areas were being built on by developers.

A resident in Chesterton, Cirencester likewise said that he had been campaigning about the flood at the rear of his property, which is proposed to be the site for 2,350 houses.

He said he was frustrated that the Chesterton development was being conducted above those on the front line.

In Siddington, concerns were raised about a pipe that had not been cleared due to uncertainty over its ownership.

It was agreed that CDC would endeavour to find out who owned the problematic pipe in Siddington and that there would be further discussions between Fairford town and Thames Water.

It was also agreed that flood resilience meetings would now be held twice a year.