£1m flood scheme for village

Rivers Agency have confirmed the proposed plans and spend to Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.

According to the plans, new precast U-shape concrete channels will be put in place in sections, along with reinforced concrete flood walls.

A section of the watercourse at Chapel Lane will also be desilted and an upgrade of the culvert crossing the Mullavilly Road will be carried out.

Drawings can be viewed for a period of 28 days from July 27 in Laurelvale Cricket Club, Laurelvale Post Office, Craigavon Civic Centre and the Rivers Agency office at Seagoe Industrial Estate.

MLA William Irwin said he had lobbied continuously on the need for flood alleviation measures since the area was hit by severe flooding back in 2008.

He said, “The fear of another flooding incident is always in the minds of those living closest to the lower sections of the stream and that is very understandable.

“The previous work which I lobbied Rivers Agency for, including the additional filtering grille, went some way in mitigating the risk over the past number of years. However, there has always been a need for a fully ‘engineered solution’ in the area.

“I would encourage residents to visit the various locations listed above and see the plans and make any comments directly to Rivers Agency or to me.”

Councillor Paul Berry welcomed the scheme. He said, “The local residents can recall the serious flooding of Velton Lawns and the Cricket Club lands several years ago and whilst Rivers Agency had carried out works at that time to improve the small rivers it was always made clear to them the need for more investment to improve long term.

“I would commend the Rivers Agency for all their work on this and I have no doubt that local residents and land owners will welcome this scheme and look forward to the commencement as soon as possible.”