Council leader calls for improvements at notorious Northampton holiday park following latest flooding evacuation

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
The leader of West Northamptonshire Council has said ‘improvements clearly need to be made’ at a notorious holiday park in Northampton following the latest flooding evacuation on site.

Last week, Northampton was hit with a series of yellow and amber weather warnings as heavy rain and storms battered the town over six days.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Homes were flooded, cars trapped, and the River Nene burst its banks, while Billing Aquadrome holiday park, where hundreds reside, eventually succumbed to the rising waters after initial resistance. By Tuesday afternoon, the Environment Agency had warned the site would flood—and it did.

Specialist water rescue teams helped 43 people escape the rising floodwaters, according to Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS). The council provided emergency accommodation at Lings Forum Leisure Centre for 52 people and 22 dogs.

WNC leader Cllr Adam Brown at Northampton Washlands on Wednesday (October 2) speaking with the media.WNC leader Cllr Adam Brown at Northampton Washlands on Wednesday (October 2) speaking with the media.
WNC leader Cllr Adam Brown at Northampton Washlands on Wednesday (October 2) speaking with the media.

Council leader Adam Brown was at Northampton Washlands today (Wednesday) speaking to Chronicle and Echo about the latest flooding.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When asked how the past week has been, the leader said: “It’s been busy. We’ve had multiple emergency meetings to get updates from stakeholders… to make sure we’re fully aware and able to coordinate the actions that need to be taken.

“Billing Aquadrome is working really closely with us, they’ve been cooperative throughout, but clearly, it’s massively frustrating for us to see another evacuation due to flooding again. It’s really heartbreaking for residents who are moved out and stay in a leisure centre.”

When asked if Billing Aquadrome would receive planning permission today, he said: “I think we need to be really clear, Billing Aquadrome is a floodplain. People ask us to put in extra protections for Billing Aquadrome itself, but we can’t do that because that will result in flooding elsewhere – very serious flooding. It’s a key part of the infrastructure locally to relieve flood risk. We’re in conversation at the moment with Billing Aquadrome to come up with a memorandum of understanding… because clearly improvements need to be made. We shouldn’t be having to evacuate people from the site on what seems like a fairly regular basis when it shouldn’t be a place of permanent residence.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When asked what is being done to prevent this from happening regularly, Cllr Brown said: “For the longer term, this sort of stuff does seem to be occurring more frequently, so we’re speaking to DEFRA to see what investment we can get in infrastructure to provide us with those longer-term protections so we don’t have to take emergency measures each and every time; so the system can cope with all the rainfall.”

On implementing new flood defences, he said: “I’m going to listen to the experts. I’m not going to prescribe a solution now, but there are ways of using pumping methods, silos on the highways to store water until it’s able to be pumped through the system further down the line. We can also look again at flood defences and how this infrastructure is coping and whether it’s fit for purpose given what seems to be the changing ways of the weather. As I say, we’ll have a conversation with DEFRA and our flood team as soon as possible. We’re pushing for it. Hopefully, we hear back really soon.”

When asked if anything will be done before the winter months, when it usually floods, Cllr Brown said: “The kind of work that needs doing will take longer than a couple of months. Hopefully, we’ll have a drier spell throughout the winter. While there have been several occurrences over the past few years, it’s not every winter that it happens. We had exceptional rain in September. In the meantime, we’ll be doing what we can, from a council perspective, in terms of inspecting and cleaning gullies. We’ve cleared about 20,000 gullies since April.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1931
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice