Action over Ottery floods

ACTION has been taken to ensure flood-prone Ottery watercourses don t devastate scores of homes in the town again.

ACTION has been taken to ensure flood-prone Ottery watercourses don't devastate scores of homes in the town again.

The Environment Agency (EA) has been given the go-ahead to 'enmain'- give main river status to- troublesome waterways near Thorne Farm Way and Furzebrook as well as a stretch of the River Tale, all of which contributed to flooding misery last October.

The news means the EA has increased power and responsibility for the watercourses, and is better placed to obtain Government funding for flood defence works.

Ottery councillor Roger Giles said: "Almost a year ago I said that everything possible should be done to ensure that residents of Otter Park, and other flood-hit communities, should never again have to face the horror, unimaginable scenes, and devastation that they suffered on October 30.

"I am delighted that at long last, almost a year after I made the request, the Thorne Farm stream has been given main river status. It is another piece in the jigsaw of doing everything possible to ensure that flooding is never repeated.