ROMSEY Flood Alleviation Scheme was officially opened on July 8 by the town's MP, Caroline Nokes.
The scheme, that became operational in autumn 2021, reduces flooding from the River Test and surface water.
The £9.5 million project was funded by the Environment Agency, Hampshire County Council and Test Valley Borough Council.
Romsey has a history of flooding in the 1960s, 1995, 2000 and 2001. In the winter of 2013/2014, water overtopped Fishlake Stream and the Barge Canal, flooding 36 homes and 44 commercial properties with devastating consequences for families and businesses.
The flood alleviation scheme includes a tilting weir structure used to control the flows of Fishlake Stream and earth embankments to contain the excess water within a flood plain. At the Causeway, more earth embankments have been built to manage flood water as well as a new bridge and a spillway to enable the flood plain to drain into the River Test.
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The risk of surface water flooding has been reduced by improvements to the existing drainage system including ditches, pipes and road drainage at Mainstone junction and Middlebridge Street.
At the opening, Ms Nokes said: “This has given us a solution that will better protect the town. We now have a range of measures that will go some way to alleviate the threat of flooding in the future. It has cost £9.5 million in funding, there has been an awful lot of hard work. So today is about saying thank you to all the agencies, individuals and groups who have been part of that. Fingers crossed we won't have to do what I do every autumn, which is to pray fervently for a dry winter.”
Cllr Edward Heron, executive lead member for transport and environment strategy at Hampshire County Council, said: “This has been a story of partnership working. The county council brought in £1.5 million toward the scheme.
“This is flood prevention and mitigation, it won't stop flooding. Also, it will protect more than 200 properties and the highway network.”
The scheme had been due to open 18 months ago, but the impact of Covid meant that work was delayed.
Simon Moody, area director at the Environment Agency, said: “There was some very severe flooding in Romsey in 2013. We saw 80 properties flooded but it could have been much worse without the emergency works we put in.
“After that flood, we knew we needed to secure some money to do something different. This is a scheme that allows us to control water through the town. It gets through the town quicker, reducing the risk of flooding and then we can store it so we can slow the flow and then release it.
“This will protect properties and businesses for decades to come.”
Mr Moody explained the impact that Covid had on construction.
He said: “We had built some of the measures before Covid struck. Even after Covid, our staff availability was sometimes limited. So without that, I think we would have been here 18 months earlier.
“I'm really proud of what they've achieved here. Flood risk and the environment is about people and the people of Romsey may not notice it, but the effort to bring it together is worth it.”
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