From Mark A

Saturday, 9 February 2019

Shortly after the flooding I did raise the question of using the mill ponds like the one in Nutclough woods, now almost completely silted up, as a way of slowing the flow of water into the rivers. It was dismissed on the basis these ponds had outflow weirs that could not be raised at times of high rainfall to hold back greater volumes of water. What has often been a problem is not the simple volume of water but the force with which it comes off the Tops bringing fallen trees and stones down that then block drains and lead to flooding. Surely a fast flowing stream coming into a large still body of water will have much of its kinetic force taken out of it and the out flow will be slowed even if the amount of water remains the same. It might require dredging afterwards but it will have done its job at the time it was needed.