A FLOOD defence wall made of brick baskets has been started just upstream of the Stonyford Road bridge between the river and the footpath.
The baskets are deep sections of brickwork caged in metal wire. Resident Steve Mosley saw council officials working on the dam-like defence on Monday and Tuesday.
He said: “They told me they’re going to build right along around the corner and then come back with another row on top, about 5ft 6ins above the bank. It will be a hell of a big help.”
But Mr Mosley would like to see an emergency flood channel dug as a spur off the Dove. He says it could run as a dead-end canal around the bottom of Mitchell's pit stack and alongside the Dove Valley Trail on the old railway line. It would stop just before Bradberry Balk Lane and the earth removed would make a flood bank between the channel and the trail.
He said: “If it was about 3 metres wide, 3 deep and three quarters of a mile long, it would take a hell of a lot of water away from down the Valley and keep it up there where it’s not bothering anybody. It wouldn’t affect the trail. Any trees that come out can be replanted on the bank.”
