Introduction

Shepton Mallet lies about 500m from, and 100m below, the river Sheppey's source at Doulting. Two other sources feed into the river at Shepton Mallet, and these rise around the strategic housing site off Cannard’s Grave Road, Field area opposite; and Lambert’s Hill. These are approximately 30m and 150m respectively above Shepton Mallet. Under normal conditions the river Sheppey is small, around 2m wide when it leaves Shepton Mallet, and for much of its course through the town travels in man-made underground culverts and open channels.

At times of heavy rain, the steep slopes and poor ground porosity of the surrounding countryside lead to a rapid increase in river levels and flooding . These factors make the Town more susceptible to the risk of flooding as severe weather events become more regular.

While this plan is for the town of Shepton Mallet it, and the website are available for use by other flood areas. The website allows sites prone to flooding to be registered along with a history of flooding events for that site. The individual sites are organised into General Areas which are treated discretely. The area around Shepton Mallet is one General Area.

This section of the website contains the Flood Plan for Shepton Mallet. Wider consultation will take place before it is actioned. The next steps will be:

• To consult with local stakeholders in affected areas on the Flood Plan and amend it as necessary
• Where there are detailed proposals to protect individual properties, details will be held confidentially and discussed with householders. If the proposals are acceptable, grants and contractors will be sought to undertake the work
• To report back to the Town Council on progress
• Seek grants to fund measures to protect properties in the short term and investigate proposals to ameliorate flash flooding events.

The objectives of the Plan are to:

• Establish stores of community level defences (e.g. pumps, barrier bags, waders and other relevant equipment) and place(s) to store them
• Identify designated Flood Wardens who will turn out to assist their local community in the event of a flooding event, including the deployment of flood-prevention measures, assisting vulnerable people
• Create a secure and protected database and contact list of all people and households potentially ‘at risk’, paying special attention to vulnerable people
• Identify a designated temporary Rest Centre to receive any people affected by flooding
• Set up a local helpline in the event of possible flooding
• Support grant applications to fund the purchase of flood defence equipment, surveys and engineering works
• Work with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) to review and change land usage in the catchment area to delay peak flows at times of heavy rainfall

The website will:

• Enable residents to receive updates or flood warnings following their registration on the site
• Maintain a local record of areas and severity of flooding. Again, resident help is essential
• Provide a list of ways householders can protect themselves either by:
  • accessing grants to install more permanent flood prevention methods
  • providing information about local help ,barrier bags, etc.
• Develop an AI (Artificial Intelligence) based early warning system of potential flood risks based on predicted and actual rainfall and upstream water levels
• Act as a point of contact for information on post-flooding help including any rebates on domestic or business rates and the reporting of blocked culverts, drains and gulleys
• Maintain strict confidentiality of individual residents and properties