Flood Gate Procedure (West compound)
Stour Sailing Club has been served notice by the Environment Agency regarding our responsibility as the landowner under The Thames Barrier and Flood Prevention Act 1972 (amended). Failure to manage the flood barrier effectively would mean the club would be liable on summary conviction to a fine and or a custodial sentence.
Whereas at the date of this document, the Environment Agency are still attending during times of Flood Alert, there could be a situation where their staff would be required to attend elsewhere and this is why they have drawn our attention to our legal obligation.
Stour Sailing Club Procedure for managing the flood defence on the West compound dated 8th April 2019.
- A minimum of 2 designated people[1] will receive flood alerts by text message from the Environment Agency.
- It is the responsibility of Stour Sailing Club to notify the Environment Agency of any changes in personnel or telephone numbers without delay.
- On receiving a flood alert the designated committee members will liaise to ensure either themselves or a designated person ensures we fulfil our responsibility as detailed below.
- Club members will not be provided with the access codes or keys to any lock during the period of a flood alert.
- Stour Sailing Club will allow the Environment Agency unobstructed access at all times to inspect this facility. Access codes and or keys provided by Stour Sailing Club will also be provided to the Environment Agency for their part in flood management control.
- During periods of flood alerts designated people from Stour Sailing Club will ensure that the gates are closed and locked over the high water hour or longer where tide levels dictate.
- Where flood alerts are predicted between the hours of 21.00 and 09.00 the following morning the gates will be closed and locked from 20.00 and are unlikely to be opened before 08.00 the following morning.
- Information contained in this procedure will be disseminated to all mooring holders and compound users via their licence agreement.
Contact details
Flood Line 0845 988 1188.
Environment Agency Incident Hotline 0800 80 70 60
[1] Designated people – these are individuals designated by the SSC Committee to be points of contact with the Environmental Agency and who will communicate with each other to ensure all procedures are followed.