Dear Sir,
I have been contacted by a number of people concerned about the work going on at the Moor, Cobblers Hall.
As you are aware, houses are being built on the area labelled O on the plan – but the Moor is being developed as a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) scheme and a local nature reserve.
Due to recent problems with flooding throughout the country, legislation is in the pipeline for this year which will significantly change the rules about drainage for new build developments. Developers will no longer be able automatically to connect to the main drainage system. And they will have to ensure that, in cloudburst conditions, the run-off from their houses will not overwhelm the drains and cause flooding to other properties. For most developments, that will mean including some form of SUDS scheme.
That is what is being developed at the Moor, which is a development ahead-of-its-time. Instead of discharging directly into the main drains, surface water from the new housing at Site O will run down drains at points B into the pond that is currently being dug out on the site. Normally, the water will then run out down drain C into the drainage system. In flood conditions, however – because drain C is of a small diameter – the rainwater will build up in the main pond and discharge at a steady rate down drain C.
At the same time, the County Council has taken the opportunity to turn this functional feature into a local nature reserve. It will be surrounded by a 1.2m paling fence (D), encompassed by an upgraded carboniferous stone footpath (E) and with viewing platforms at points F. The permanent pond (G) will be planted with common water-crowfoot and broadleaf pondweed, with ‘marginal’ and ‘emergent wildflowers’ (BFS5) planted at the water’s edge, and a mix of wildflowers and grasses (BFW4) in the rest of the catchment basin.
If you are interested, you can read full details on the council website at http://bit.ly/DCCMoor
John D Clare
