Brooke Road flood risk management scheme

As Brooke Road was one of the worst areas affected by the serious flooding in summer 2021, the Council prioritised this area for investment to help tackle the issues caused by heavy rainfall, reduce pressure on Thames Water’s infrastructure (drainage systems), minimise risk to residential properties and St Mary’s C of E School, and enhance biodiversity.

Thanks to funding from Thames Water, the Department for Education and Waltham Forest Council, we were able to develop the following concept plans for the area:

• Install rain gardens along the carriageway on Brooke Road to manage rainwater run-off from hard surfaces after downpours. Rain gardens often involve planting attractive, low maintenance, wildlife-friendly plants which also help boost biodiversity.
• Install water attenuation and storage cells under the road surface in Brooke Road, from St Mary’s C of E School to the junction with Oliver Road. An attenuation cell is an underground tank which receives water from the surface either through a permeable carriageway surfacing material or drainage slots. This additional storage helps slow the rate of water flowing into Thames Water’s infrastructure (drainage system), relieving pressure during intense periods of rainfall, and preventing drains overflowing and flooding.
• Permeable carriageway surfacing and road construction along parts of Brooke Road to absorb rainwater and allow it to flow into the underground storage tanks. The new permeable road construction also acts as a temporary additional rainwater storage, slowing down the speed at which the water enters Thames Water’s infrastructure.
• St Mary’s C of E School will be supporting our scheme with their ‘SuDS’ (Sustainable Urban Drainage) in Schools’ initiative and will harvest rainwater by linking the school’s downpipes to rain planters.

The designs for the Brooke Road scheme were developed and presented to local people at a community drop in event on Thursday 16 March 2022. This allowed local people who had been affected by the previous flooding share feedback on the scheme and provide recommendations for changes to the design.

As well as arranging a community drop in, we also liaised with stakeholders in the local area on a regular basis, including St Mary’s School, to keep them updated on the scheme and collect feedback on the design. 

All the feedback received was analysed and taken into consideration when finalising the scheme for the area.

Construction work began in May 2023, starting with Brooke Road and Oliver Road, followed by work on Chestnut Avenue North and Chestnut Avenue South. All the work was completed by September 2023, with planting taking place in October 2023.