Rocklands, Norfolk The Villages of Rockland All Saints and Rockland St Peter

We should like to thank all those who took the time and effort to complete the survey, and it has been a major task to sort out the varied responses into a comprehensible and succinct report. I have grouped some slightly differing responses together, and apologise if some of the comments that were made seem to have been ignored.

Of the 56 surveys distributed to houses in The Street and Low Lane where the flooding presents a major problem, 32 were completed.(57%), though these were most likely to come from people seriously affected by flooding, so some care needs to be taken with the results.

5 households recorded that floodwater had entered their building, one as many as six times and two others four times each, whilst 22 said that their garden or drive had been flooded and a further 5 recorded waterlogging.
7 responses indicated that they had been affected by sewage in their home or garden, one as many as twelve times.

Several people indicated that they had taken personal action to combat the flooding, which included digging French drains (4), the use of sandbags (4) and raising their drive entrance or manhole cover.

There were many reasons suggested for the flooding and the ones mentioned most frequently were:

The geography of the village with a large catchment area draining into a valley (The Street) where the subsoil is clay and the water table is high (10 mentions)
The main drain through The Street is too small (13)
The loss of ditches and ponds which allowed water storage(13)
Buildings reducing the amount of land for percolation (11)

It was suggested that the problems with the sewage system were due to an inadequate system and pumping station, and to rainwater being diverted into the foul water system.

The main suggestions to solve the flooding problems were

Re-open ditches and ensure others are maintained, restore and create ponds for water storage (16 mentions)
Enlarge the main drain (13)
Prevent further building development (14)

Also suggested were new ditches to divert water away from The Street and the planting of trees.

The Public Authorities (National Government, County, District and Parish Councils) was mentioned most as the source of funding for any improvements(15 mentions). Also mentioned were Anglia Water (5),Fund raising events (5) Developers (3) and Residents (3).

It was also suggested that villagers might volunteer to help dig out the ditches.