Environment Agency admits flood warnings failed to protect Kettering homes after river broke its banks

Last month after Storm Bert, residents in Stratfield Way, Kettering whose homes are located alongside the normally low-level Slade Brook, were disappointed that their homes had already been flooded when they received official text messages from the Environment Agency.

Now in response to a letter from MP for Kettering Rosie Wrighting asking how residents could be protected in the future, the agency has said it is sorry and they needed to work with residents on the current ‘trigger’ levels.

The MP raised constituents’ concerns over the timings of flood Alerts and flood warnings.

A spokesperson on behalf of Leigh Edlin, Environment Agency area director for flood and costal risk, said: “I am sorry they have experienced flooding to their properties.

“Storm Bert caused widescale flooding across Northamptonshire. In Kettering, there was again sadly an impact in the Stratfield Way area.

"Speaking to one resident, they advised me that the impacts were less significant than the 2020 flooding, which they believe was due to the work we undertook in 2021 on Slade Brook. This work included maintenance work to remove bushes, clearing the channel adjacent to the properties of excess sediment upstream of the railway culverts and realigning the confluence of the Slade Brook with the River Ise.

“Following each flood incident, we undertake a validation exercise to calibrate when Flood Alerts and Flood Warnings were issued against reports of property flooding and to check we issued the warnings at the appropriate time.

"Our initial review shows that when the Flood Warning trigger levels in our procedures were met, the warning was issued on time (at 8.37am on November 25, 2024) through the Flood Warning Service.

“We understand, however, that the onset of property flooding did indeed occur ahead of our Flood Warning being received by the residents.

"We will therefore need to work with local residents to ensure we either a) adjust our trigger level to provide them with earlier warnings in the future, as it seems clear that their properties flood at a lower flood level than we previously understood or b) develop a bespoke flood warning area for this part of Kettering (so as to avoid providing other residents in the existing flood warning area with warnings that do not impact their properties).”

It is the second time residents have been flooded. On Christmas Eve 2020, 42 homes were flooded in Stratfield Way. The warnings on phones coming as people were wading through water in their houses.

After the December 2020 floods, four official flood investigation reports were ordered by North Northants Council into incidents in Corby, Southwick, Little Oakley and Geddington.

Rosie said: "Flooding devastates communities and my sympathies are with all those who were impacted. It is clear, given that flood warning texts arrived too late both this year and when this area flooded in 2020, that something needs to change.

"I’m pleased that the Environment Agency is considering changing its future local flood warning process and it’s important that local residents have their say in this. That is why I am seeking to set up a meeting with agencies and those affected by these floods so that the voices of local people are heard."

The Environment Agency spokesperson added: “We have adjusted our trigger levels successfully with other local communities to make sure the service is as accurate and timely as possible. It is, however, always a careful balance between providing earlier warnings and avoiding false warnings.”