Works will protect some 160 homes in the town

Midweek Herald: Axminster county councillor Ian Hall. Picture: CHRIS CARSONAxminster county councillor Ian Hall. Picture: CHRIS CARSON (Image: Archant)

A £1 million flood prevention scheme in Axminster has been completed.

The Devon County Council project, in Willhay Lane, which has widened and realigned the Millbrook culvert to improve its capacity and flow of water, now provides vital protection to more than 160 homes.

A new structure has fully enclosed part of the flood prone channel and earlier phases of the scheme enabled the construction of a flood defence wall and the installation of a ‘tree-catcher’ debris grill upstream of the culvert beneath Willhay Lane. The channel downstream of the railway towards the main River Axe has also been widened.

During severe storms in 2012, more than 40 properties were flooded in Axminster, with The Cricketers and Willhay Lane the main areas affected.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for flooding, said: “I’m sure these improvements will be welcomed by the local residents in this part of Axminster who have suffered flooding in the past. This has been one of our priority schemes to reduce risk and it has improved the standard of protection up to a one in 100 year flood event.”

Councillor Ian Hall, Devon County Councillor for Axminster, said: “These improvements have removed the bottleneck where the Millbrook approaches Willhay Lane and the rail culvert.

“This now reduces the risk of flooding to around 160 homes.

“I recently inspected the area and would like to say a great job has been completed and I would also like to thank Devon County Council, East Devon District Council and my predecessor Andrew Moulding for all the work involved to see this project come to fruition – a real team effort.”

* Work on the flood alleviation scheme has been carried out by contractor South West Highways.