David Simpson, Hampshire County Council

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Hartley Wintney, Eversley and Yateley Learn more

Winter Weather

by David Simpson on 24 December, 2014

Dear Members

I thought it would be worthwhile providing you with an update on our winter preparedness as we all get ready for the Christmas break.

 

At the moment, the forecast is for some showery rain and then colder air moving in, with the possibility of heavier rain with stronger winds on Boxing Day evening, but nothing exceptional like last year.  There could be some strong winds on Friday evening and into Saturday, but we have made arrangements to have teams on standby if required. In terms of rainfall, the level for December has been average but the months before were both above the long term average.  For the whole year, we have had 160% of the average rainfall, though we did of course have an exceptionally wet start to the year which affects this. Groundwater levels are still above average in Hampshire, although the rise has slowed recently, and the picture is not uniform across Hampshire.  Areas of high levels currently are Lower Farringdon, Alton, West Meon, Finchdean, Buckskin and Hambledon – although the groundwater level in Hambledon has dropped by 0.25m recently.

 

Although most groundwater levels are above normal for the time of year, these are not unprecedented levels and in many locations they are broadly similar to those recorded in November 2012. Whether groundwater flooding is experienced this winter is dependent on both the volume and intensity of rain that falls over the next few weeks and months.  At this stage the overall situation is not giving us, or the Environment Agency undue cause for concern.  If you would like to see further detailed information, Hampshire’s groundwater level report is available online.

 

For our part, a great deal of work has been done to get as prepared as we can for the winter.  As you know, Hampshire was awarded one of the highest amounts in the South East for flood and pothole repairs and extra resources were brought in earlier in the year to carry these out.  To date, over £29m of work has been completed on the roads including 80,000 gullies cleansed, 74km or road resurfaced and 50,000 potholes repaired.  We continue to press Government for a different approach for allocating flood mitigation funding because the groundwater flooding that much of Hampshire suffers from does not score highly in the current criteria.

 

We will, as ever, keep a close on the weather and have emergency crews on standby 24 hours a day to ensure Hampshire’s roads remain clear and passable.  We have thousands of tonnes of sand in depots across the county which can be filled by automated machines and deployed immediately when required to protect the highways, highways crews with specialist equipment for removing falling trees, and extra machinery to deploy if needed.  We are also now holding record amounts of salt following the commissioning of the new double barn at Havant for this winter.  We have carried out a number of salting runs so far this winter, and will salt routes away from the coastal areas in the County again tonight.

 

If the weather does look like it might take a turn for the worse, I will of course be in touch with you to alert you, and keep you informed of work going on to ensure Hampshire’s residents remain safe while travelling over the Christmas period.

 

In the meantime, I wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

 

 

Regards Stuart JarvisDirector of Economy, Transport and Environment

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