Great Shefford unveils £5.2m passive flood channel

Here’s some good news you can measure in centimetres if you live along the Lambourn. Great Shefford now has a flood bypass that works while you sleep. The Environment Agency says the £5.2 million scheme finished in June 2025 and is designed to better protect 26 properties near the Great Shefford Stream. The announcement was published on 12 November 2025, with the Agency’s Thames area director saying the completion should give residents more confidence during heavy rain.

The set‑up is simple to use because nobody needs to use it. When levels rise, part of the flow slips into a one‑kilometre route that diverts water around the village. It is a mix of buried pipework and rectangular culverts, plus a short open channel with a small backwater where it meets the River Lambourn. Gravity does the work.

Why a passive layout helps during a storm is easy to explain: with no gates or pumps to operate, there are fewer single points of failure when teams are stretched or power is down. It also means emergency services can focus on people rather than controls. No defence is a promise against every flood, though, so we still plan for events bigger than the design standard.

This was a community‑backed build as much as it was an engineering job. Local volunteers in the Great Shefford Flood Alleviation Association raised £80,000 to unlock wider funding, West Berkshire Council supported the planning process, and BAM led construction with design support from Stantec. Contract management involved Advantage RSK and Binnies, with site supervision by Mott MacDonald and earlier appraisal by Jacobs.

There’s a nature boost too. The open channel and backwater add calmer water and varied edges, which the Environment Agency says delivers biodiversity net gain. Think of it as leaving habitats in better shape than before, while still doing the safety job for the village.

For context, the national programme stepped up this year. In February 2025, the government and Environment Agency announced a two‑year £2.65 billion package to build, repair and maintain defences, aiming to better protect about 52,000 properties by March 2026. The Agency’s national report for 2024/25 notes that around 27,500 properties benefited from improved protection across 145 schemes during that year.

If you live in England, your next step is simple and free: check your flood risk and sign up for warnings on GOV.UK, or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 if you’d rather do it by phone. A Flood Alert typically arrives 2 to 12 hours before possible flooding, while a Flood Warning usually comes 30 minutes to 1 day ahead when flooding is expected. For South East updates, the Environment Agency’s @EnvAgencySE account on X posts regular notices.

What it means for classrooms and community groups is practical. Use Great Shefford as a case study in catchments: sketch where water travels, trace the bypass route, and discuss how a gravity‑fed channel lowers flood peaks through a village. Then write a short flood plan with neighbours, decide who checks on who, store medicines and documents above ground level, and rehearse a ten‑minute drill for moving pets and valuables if a night‑time warning arrives.