River Exe: Flood Control

(asked on 5th March 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 December 2016 (HL4156), whether the Environment Agency intends to support the removal by Network Rail of the three weirs on the river Exe above Exeter to reduce the risk of flooding on the rail line.


This question was answered on 15th March 2018

The Environment Agency (EA) has been aiding Network Rail and their consultants on producing a flood and geomorphology risk assessment on the proposal to remove the three weirs near Cowley Bridge.

The EA has provided all the local flood history, river flow and river state data that it has, and the required specification and scenarios that any modelling results must produce.

Once this report is submitted, the EA will assess the impact on third parties and the environment in terms of flood risk and environmental impacts. The EA will also assess the impact, if any, on the new flood defence scheme currently being built in Exeter.

The EA recently issued flood risk activity permits for the Network Rail improvement to the flood culvert under the railway upstream of Cowley Bridge. The culvert works are expected to be completed during summer 2018 and will reduce flood risk to the railway.

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