Flooding

One of the problems affecting Oxshott is that of flooding. The thick clay that underlies most of Oxshott is not permeable and therefore water soaks in very slowly and during heavy rains the water run-off causes problems.  Therefore the road drainage system needs to be regularly maintained and in top condition to handle the run-off. This drainage system is the responsibility of Surrey County Council. 

Reporting Problems

Of course, Surrey CC can only fix problems that they know about,  Therefore the first step in fixing a recurring flooding problem is to report it online to them using their online reporting system.  You can get to their webpage by clicking on this link and once there you will find information about how they handle “wetspots” and a further link to report one. They can be very responsive.

Flooding Information

Another source of information, where you can even find out the flood-risk assessment of your own property, is the Government website that you can reach with this link. Although the caveats on the website state that “it is not suitable for identifying whether an individual property will flood”, in order to progress on the website it requires that you enter a postcode and property number/name and then will provide the risk assessment for that property. 

The website also provides a map of areas of flood-risk, which for Oxshott is shown in the following map.  This is the extent of the risk of flooding from surface water run-off, and is based on computer modelling.  The darker blue areas are, of course, those with higher risk and therefore areas of focus for remedial actions.  There is more explanation on the Government website – clicking on this map will take you directly to it on the website, where you can zoom-in (and zoom-out) and move the map to see other areas. You can also view maps of other parameters such as depth and velocity; the velocity maps show chevrons pointing in the direction of flow, which is very useful.