A Scunthorpe wildlife centre that provides educational activities for children and is a haven for many creatures has been forced to close due to an ongoing problem with flooding.
Healey Road Wildlife Centre, which has been run entirely by volunteers for the last eight years, became severely flooded as a result of the heavy rainfall throughout Monday. Volunteers have subsequently spent hours at the site pumping away the floodwater, and have made the decision to close until the issue is resolved.
Chairman Barry Cottiss claims the centre’s landlord, North Lincolnshire Council, has assured volunteers over the years that “something would be done” to rectify the ongoing issue, which he says is getting “worse” every year. The council told Scunthorpe Live that while it has “been working with the group for a number of years to try to help”, flooding on the land is “not [their] responsibility” and that the “location of the land makes flooding a possibility with very heavy rain”.
(Image: Healey Road Wildlife Centre)
Speaking to Scunthorpe Live, Barry said: “We set up about eight years ago as a charity on some wasteland that used to be allotment land after we got a lease from North Lincolnshire Council. We’ve raised quite a bit of money through our own efforts and through donations and by applying for funding, but the issue with flooding has been ongoing for about four years.
“We’ve had so many people from the Council come down and look at it, and workers dug an exploratory hole. But the problem just seems to be getting worse every year and the volume of water that’s coming in is just getting more and more. It’s every winter and it’s become a nightmare.
(Image: Healey Road Wildlife Centre)
“We dug a flood ditch at the lowest point and we’ve got our own pumps and generators. We had French drains put in at the other side, but something more needs to be done to stop the problem from happening again. It will keep happening until the issue is resolved.
“Over the last few years we’ve had nine or ten visits from various departments and we’ve had promises for the last couple of years that something would be done. It’s just a sad situation that should’ve been resolved over the summer.”
Barry said the possibility of utilising a storm drain that runs around the site has been discussed, but that “nothing” has come of it.
(Image: Healey Road Wildlife Centre)
North Lincolnshire Council told Scunthorpe Live that that the storm drain is not owned by them, meaning they cannot give permission for water to be discharged to it.
Barry continued: “Councillors Ellerby and Southern deserve so much credit, they’ve been involved with the site from day one. But we’ve had to make the decision to close because it’s a health and safety risk.
“It’s going to affect lots of people. We’re coming up towards frogspawn time and if we have to be closed so many children are going to miss out on the pond dipping activities. It’s really sad that we’ve had to take this step, but we can’t allow people on the site with it continuing in the situation it is.”
A spokesperson for North Lincolnshire Council said: “While flooding on this land is not the council’s responsibility, we have been working with the group for a number of years to try to help. When the group first took over the land, we made it clear that its position near the base of a hill would make it vulnerable to flooding. The culvert that is mentioned is not owned by the council so we are unable to give permission for water to be discharged to it.
“We have every sympathy with the group and will continue to work with them, but the location of the land makes flooding a possibility with very heavy rain.”
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
