News:
Flooding on the Playing fields and beyond

We've seen it before but not like this on video. This was taken on 6th February 2016 during/after a deluge and what a sight it is.  Just click onto: Flooding

Principally it shows that the drainage problems on the field are caused by 2 sources of water:
A. From the farmers field above and to the west of the playing field, where the water ponds at the bottom of the farmer's field and then floods eastwards onto the south west corner of the playing field. (as shown at the beginning of this video). 

B. From the farmer’s field to the north of the children’s play area - there is almost a spring here. See this video at about 15 minutes. This water drains across the children’s play area, onto the car park by the village hall and then down the drive to the village hall.  Almost all the water running down the village hall drive originates from above the children’s play area. (At about 11mins in the video) The water runs down the village hall drive because the water is not channelled from the children’s play area into drains.

There is some water coming off the farmers field above the field where the cricket nets and tennis courts are - but it is nothing in comparison to the water coming onto the field under A or B above. The drainage under the tennis courts seems to be doing its job. 

The quantity of water is similar to that seen over the last few years - this is not exceptional, and can be expected at least once a winter. 

Solutions to the above are currently being sought and are greatly aided by the recently awarded Sport England grant for £23,000 to address the drainage on the sports field side.  Likewise the drainage system installed under the tennis courts has addressed water flooding in this area.
To come up with an overall solution - one each to meet the challenges of A and B above.  
A. the solution potentially lies in putting a large soak-away/drain pipe all along the bottom of the playing field, which will have capacity to take the water from the west all along the field to the drain that runs down the village hall drive. The surface drainage on the cricket/football field is improved in the way proposed by the Sport England proposal. This soak-away will also capture the surface water that drains off the cricket/football. The Sport England proposal should address all of this. There will also need to be special attention paid to ensuring the the running track does not channel the surface water - resulting in the track being degraded/washed away.

B. The water entering from above the children’s play area needs to be channeled into drains, and thence to the top of the village hall drive and into the drain that leads down the village hall drive. 

Watch this space for more news as professional advice is being sought by all parties concerned - the Parish Council, the Village Hall and the newly formed Wellow Recreation (WRec).