Free sand bags are available from Marlborough town council for those fearing flooding

A pallet of some 40 free sand bags was delivered to Marlborough Town Council on Friday (February 14) by Wiltshire Council for instant distribution where flooding from the current storms is imminent.

Properties near the Coopers Meadow and Stonebridge Meadow, both water meadows now flooded, may be at risk as well as shops and properties on The Parade, where groundwater has filled some basements.

“We will deliver the sand bags for those unable to collect them, particularly elderly people and the handicapped,” Town Clerk Shelley Parker told Marlborough News Online.

“Obviously, more resources are being sent to those areas most in need and, luckily for us, Marlborough doesn’t fall into that category.”

“We are selling gel sacs to those who need them at £3.50 each – they swell like normal sandbags when wet. Forty have been sold so far this week.”

And she added: “Our grounds team is regularly assessing the situation in Marlborough and receives an update from Wiltshire Council’s incident room every day.”

The path through Coopers Meadow has been closed off for the last two weeks as the River Kennet overflowed its banks, in particular affecting Priory Gardens, also closed, where the snowdrops are out just beyond the banks of the Kennet.

Some sewer lids are lifting creating a potential pollution problem.

“Thames Water have been here most days but there is little that they can do until the river levels drop,” Mrs Parker pointed out.

The council team, meanwhile, has cleared away a fallen tree that blocked Frees Avenue earlier in the week and another on the Common.

Otherwise the town council is pleased at how well the flood alleviation scheme in Kennet Place, installed by the Environment Agency last year, is working. The council contributed £36,000, a third of the cost, to the project.

And the Town Council is helping in seriously flooded areas of Berkshire: a member of its grounds team, who is also a retained fire fighter, volunteering to help out.

Friday’s storms brought the level of the River Kennet to yet another peak arouind noon on Saturday (February 15.) Once again the level was within a few centimetres of the highest level ever recorded at the Envirnonment Agency’s automatic guage in Marlborough.