Northampton's St James needs 'action now' to prevent future floods before residents' luck runs out, says councillor

A Northampton district that came just inches away from widespread damage in this week's flooding needs "action" to prevent a future disaster, public figures have said.

In the aftermath of the torrential rain on December 23, St James was pictured by hundreds of residents as teetering on the brink of a major incident.

In particular, the water rose to a foot deep at the junction of St James' Road by the Thomas Beckett Pub. Several homes suffered water damage under their floorboards and gardens in nearby Lincoln Road were flooded.

The damage was not as severe compared to the major incident at Billing Aquadrome or how several properties were flooded in Collingtree.

But now, public figures in St James are calling for the Environment Agency to re-examine the district and act now to prevent a catastrophe in the future.

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place," said ward councillor Rufia Ashraf.

"Something can be done. Even though there wasn't flooding in residential properties we still need to secure the area.

"In my view it is severe. We still ended up getting water up to one foot deep."

This week is the second time St James has seen a severe rise in water in two years, after the junction flooded as part of a torrential downpour in May 2018 that flooded dozens of homes on St Leonard's Road in Far Cotton.

Meanwhile, St James was one of many districts devastated by the Easter floods of 1998.

Councillor Ashraf said: "Two years ago I contacted the environment agency and I was told that everything was in order. We shouldn't have any issues anymore.

"This is the second time it has come quite close in two years.

"We need to ask the Agency what are they going to do about it. Next time residents might not be so lucky.

"To my understanding it is because the River Nene burst it's banks. The flooding happened once and they thought they had capped it and it's happened again. We need to identify where the issue has come from.

"I am calling for all the drains to in St James to be unblocked whilst we look at the River Nene."

Chair of the St James Residents' Association Graham Croucher also claimed the districts' drains need to be unblocked.

He said: "There were some very concerned residents that morning who thought it would be like 1998 again.

"It would seem that the drains couldn't handle it this time. There is not enough regular cleaning, and dead leaves are causing blockages in the gullies.

"We need to clear drains as much as possible and check out flood defenses, and any deficiencies have to be acted upon."

The Chronicle & Echo previously reported that the county council carries out programme of gully clearances once a year.

In 2019, a report into the St Leonard's Road floods concluded that although blocked drains made the high water worse, it would happened 'regardless' as the street's drains were not fit to handle the sudden downpour.It came after the Chron reported in July 2018 that some drains in St Leonard's had not been cleaned in two years.Pictures of the drains after the floods showed them packed with silt and mud. The Chron videoed contractors working on their hands and knees with crowbars to remove the built-up silt.