Ruislip – Park Wood and Pinn Meadows Flood Partnership

Work to date

Our work so far has focussed on drawing together what we know about the flooding and how it happens, to identify potential options for managing the risk. This has included looking at previous studies and gathering knowledge about the flooding issues. We have gathered information from; our records, communities, the council and Thames Water.

We have also improved our understanding of the area as a whole through our consultation and through engagement with communities. We now better appreciate what is important about the area to local people, and the importance of local sites like Park Wood both locally and nationally.

The “River Pinn Initial Assessment Report” which summarises the work we completed before our consultation in March 2018 is available as a PDF at the bottom of 'River Pinn project information page' here. Our summary of our March 2018 consultation is also available to download at the bottom of this page. Please note that the costs included in this report are an indication only, and will be revised to make sure they are realistic before we develop the project options in more detail. This report was the start of the process of identifying options for the River Pinn catchment as a whole. The next section below summarises the current situation and the options that we are continuing to develop.

Option development

In our last update in January 2019, we explained that during 2018 we gathered more information in order to help us better understand how flooding happens. We have:

• gathered topographic survey information (in November 2018) so we can better understand the lay of the land and exactly where water is likely to flow in times of flood
• provided this information, along with all of the information we have gathered from our consultation and other engagement with partners and communities to our consultants to update our computer model (in March 2019)
• met with flood action groups (in April 2019) to update them on the project, the timescales and check with them that we have interpreted all of the information they have provided to us correctly
• started to scope out what we would like our consultants to do for us as part of the next phase of work – this is ongoing, and we are developing the scope with council and flood action group input so it is ready in summer 2019

An updated timeline for the project can be seen below:

The responses to our consultation and engagement with communities has shown us that people want to see more detail about how the options will affect them. The work we are doing now will continue to develop our understanding of how the options need to be designed to be most effective. We will continue to work with communities to develop our options.

At the moment the options we are considering are a combination of:

• natural flood management (NFM) led by the council and/or an embankment in Park Wood (precise location to be determined) to supplement the NFM and reduce the flood risk further
• flood storage area on King’s College Playing Fields and/or Pinn Meadows including surface water storage to reduce flooding from both the river and surface water draining from surrounding roads
• flood wall and/or embankments around King’s College Playing Fields and/or Pinn Meadows along with the storage area to ensure that water stays in the green space away from properties

The work we have done so far has demonstrated that these are likely to be the most viable options for this area. The image below shows indicative information about the location of these options but please note that there is still scope to change the detail of these as we progress through the next stages of the project.

We are currently updating our computer model of the river to help us identify the benefits and costs of the options in more detail. We will then look at how much funding from other sources we will need to secure in order to design the options in more detail.

Natural flood management in Park Wood:

The latest updates on Hillingdon’s project to deliver NFM in Park Wood can be found on their website at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/32782/Flood-risk-management-projects-and-events.

We will continue to work with Hillingdon and Thames 21 to ensure that we are not duplicating work and to share information that is produced by each project.

NFM remains part of the plan for the area as initial investigations demonstrated that it could provide flood risk benefit. An embankment is likely to be required alongside any NFM, the precise scale, location and design of which is still to be determined. We will continue to work with residents in this area to consider the best approach for the local environment.

Once the benefits and costs of NFM are better understood we will be able to make a decision about the best way to reduce the risk on the ground. The Hillingdon-led NFM project will be implemented first and information from this will inform the wider project.

Working with communities:

Since March 2018 when we carried out our formal consultation on our option ideas, we have been keeping communities up-to-date through these webpage updates and meeting with local flood action groups. In the project area, there are two flood action groups who represent their local communities on the project team. These are:

• North Ruislip Flood Action Group, covering the area to the north of the River Pinn, including Broadwood Avenue, Park Avenue and Park Wood
• Evelyn Avenue and Brook Drive Flood Action Group, covering the area to the south of the River Pinn, including Brook Drive, Evelyn Avenue and Brook Close

From June 2019, representatives from these flood action groups will be a formal part of the project team structure and invited to attend monthly progress meetings. This approach will make sure that the flood action groups are involved in any decisions taken, understand the project progress better and keep the communities they represent fully informed. These meetings will allow the project team to consider local community requirements in any options to manage flood risk.

This approach will supplement, not replace, the updates to this webpage. We will also continue to carry out wider engagement with communities to make sure that everyone who is potentially affected by the options to manage flood risk has access to the latest information.

We are also actively engaging with the Ruislip Residents’ Association (RRA) and Ruislip Woods Management Advisory Group (RWMAG) to make sure that these groups understand the project and can take the latest information back to the communities that they represent.

We will be building on these relationships in the coming months and will be using these resident networks to make sure that information is circulated to the wider community. We also plan to put information in the RRA publication the “Town Crier” later in 2019.

If you would like to become part of one of the flood action groups listed above, or would like to get in touch with them, please contact the following:

Brook Drive, Evelyn Avenue and Brook Close flood action group: floodactiongroup@gmail.com

North Ruislip flood action group (Broadwood Avenue, Park Avenue and Park Woods): nruislipflag@gmail.com

What happens next?

We will continue to work with our partners and communities to secure funding for this project. It is currently partly funded by central government, but there is still a need to find more funding, for example from organisations and businesses that will benefit. We can only progress to the point where we are ready to undertake work on the ground, if full funding has been secured.

We will be engaging with communities at the following key points in the project:

• in summer 2019, we will share our updated river model through the flood action groups to make sure it represents what happens on the ground during flooding
• after this, we will arrange a meeting with the consultants who will be carrying out the next phase of the work, so that communities can share their knowledge
• in late 2019 we hope to be able to include an article in the Ruislip Residents Association publication “The Town Crier” so that everyone in the local area receives an update about our project progress
• in early 2020 we hope to be in the position to undertake a formal consultation on the options we are likely to take forward, but this date is subject to change

Over the next few months, you may notice Environment Agency staff and consultants visiting the area around the River Pinn in Ruislip. They will be gathering specific information about the river and the surrounding environment. We are unable to confirm when the dates for all these visits will be. However, we will be working with the flood action groups to organise specific joint site visits with members of the public and our consultants. 

If you would like to be kept updated or share your experiences of flooding please fill out the forms below. If you are already on our list you do not need to fill out a form.

Our next webpage update will be in summer 2019.

Thank you for visiting our project information page. For any comments or feedback on our information page, please email HNL-PSO@environment-agency.gov.uk