THE Environment Agency has made details available about the planned flood defences for Tenbury.

Computer modelling and on site surveys have determined the line of the defence system.

This is a combination of walls and earth bunds, depending on ground conditions and site topography,

It runs from the rear of Orchard Court and Cralves Mead, along Church Street, in front of Riverside Mews and along to the Bridge Hotel.

On the east side of the Teme bridge, a wall continues along Riverside Walk to the Tesco Supermarket site.

The defence line then runs along the edge of the rear of Teme Street properties, on The Burgage, along Kyre Brook, past the Pump Rooms up to the rear of Caldicotts yard.

Where the defence crosses footpath routes there will be gates and ‘Stop logs’ at roads. These will be in the form of demountable posts with horizontal aluminium planks, similar to the defences erected at Bewdley.

Principally, these will be at the Teme Bridge and the B4204 Rochford Road at the Crow corner.

Because the River Teme is so fast rising, it was made clear that the Environment Agency would not be in a position to react in time to erect these barricades themselves but it would have to rely on community involvement.

The choice of selecting an earth bund or a wall was dependent on many factors.

“Living in an agricultural community, one would have thought that the earth bund would be the most cost effective and natural solution in landscape terms,” said Eric Hudson, Mayor of Tenbury.

“However, the ecological impact and carbon emission arising from the moving of the earth, the effect on trees and future maintenance made the use of walls more acceptable.

A decision on this, in areas such as the Burgage, is still under discussion and residents of the town will have an opportunity to give their views at the Public Consultation events.

The programme for the project has slipped, in part because of the difficulty in appointing the number of surveyors necessary to carry out the extensive work, due to Covid and because of complications due to the volume of services encountered and the physical proximity of buildings to the rivers and the individual negotiations.