It is just over a year since Storm Babet and the devastating floods in Retford and the surrounding areas. On Monday 7th January 2025, a Red flood warning was issued advising residents to ‘act now’.
The warning indicated that property flooding was expected from 9.00pm, giving residents less than an hour’s notice. Concerns were raised on social media about the lack of detail in the warning, with many deeply troubled by the advice of “immediate action required”. The affected areas included Darrel Road and Ordsall, with Goosemore Lane.
In October 2023, the River Idle reached record levels. Nottinghamshire County Council declared a major incident, and two ‘danger to life’ warnings were issued. Approximately 500 homes were urged to evacuate. Many residents lost their homes, key roads (including the A1) were closed, habitats destroyed, and farmland devastated.
Yet again, the flooding risk to Retford homes and businesses persists. However, the Environment Agency (EA) has done very little to protect those who most rely on them.
During the 2024 floods, residents and businesses were led to believe that support and action would follow to manage future flood risk. Disappointingly, the assistance has been very limited. At various meetings with the EA, it became apparent that essential river maintenance was unlikely to materialise due to bureaucratic obstacles, creating intolerable anxiety for residents.
In response, residents, businesses, environmentalists, and farmers formed the River Idle Flood Action Group (RIFAG), which now has over 500 members. The group asserts that devastating floods are inevitable after years of EA neglect of river maintenance. RIFAG’s primary goal is to promote urgent maintenance, enabling the river to handle the water volumes it once could. The focus is on safeguarding the environment, sustaining people’s health and wellbeing, and protecting local homes. Without maintenance, all are at risk.
While EA flood modelling continues, the message remains that nothing can be done in the short term. Longer-term plans are also uncertain, as the government’s Cost Ratio Analysis prioritises more valuable properties, often in the south of England. Further, following the Budget, the government announced ‘significant funding pressures on flood defences’, with plans to ‘review these from 2025-26 to ensure they are affordable’, exacerbating anxieties for those affected.
RIFAG is advocating targeted de-weeding, de-treeing, and de-silting of the river in an environmentally sensitive way. However, progress has been slow, with each step forward frustrated by bureaucracy and a lack of accountability for EA inaction. While some limited works have recently commenced in the Bawtry area, no plans appear to address the stretch of the Idle nearer Retford.
After just a short period of heavy rain, it is imperative that key individuals within the Environment Agency take accountability for their limited actions over the last 12 months. They must justify to local people why, once again, an imminent flood risk threatens their homes.