The bridges in the village have traditionally caused "bottle necks" with associated local flooding. The bridges on Haunt Hill and Church Walk have both been enlarged within living memory to help with the problem, but water piling up at the Oundle Road bridge still causes Church Street to become flooded and impassible several times a year on average.  

However, in recent years, the problem has become much worse as new property has been built on areas which traditionally flood. This, and the increased flow as ever larger areas are hard-surfaced and drained into the brook upstream, has now created a real danger to property flooding in certain areas. 

The balancing lagoon

The recent concern about the integrity of the balancing lagoon adjacent to Bangrove Road, and the solution adopted by Anglian Water to resolve it  by reducing its capacity, and increasing the flow rate out of it, are compounding the problem even more.

The new spillway from the lagoon to the Willowbrook

The Environment Agency's current view is that these works are likely to increase the amount of water downstream during storm events and that this is likely to encroach on the land shown for Plots 20 to 24 of The Dash Farm Close Development. 

• How do the residents whose properties adjoin the brook stand;  and as they are held responsible for the upkeep of the stretch along their boundaries, what additional costs might this entail?
• Can a developer continue to build and sell properties without legal liabilities after they have been told by the Environment Agency that they stand a risk of flooding?
• What legal recourse have purchasers of these properties?
• How will the flooding effect the insurance premiums of other residents?

The best advice is if you are considering buying a property in the village, be aware that both branches of the Willowbrook are known to flood - increases in level of several feet are not uncommon.