Chippenham charity still affected by Storm Bert flooding 100 days on
Doorway was forced out of its main office in November and still isn't back in
A Wiltshire charity devasted by flooding during Storm Bert tells us it's still feeling the impact of the floods more than a hundred days on.
Homeless support charity, Doorway, is one of numerous organisations still unable to use its main buildings since the floods.
CEO Jo Kitching said they've been working from the Rotary Hall in Chippenham, and while they've been able to carry out much of their work as normal, it's required a lot of resilience from staff and volunteers.
"What it means practically is people are having to move between locations carrying their laptops with them, not being able to settle anywhere, there's a lot of toing and froing with stuff which, apart from being physically exhausting, makes us feel a little bit homeless ourselves."
She's praised the 'amazing' staff and volunteers for their resilience, saying they've kept the good humour and have been there for each other during the tougher moments.
The charity's building on Bath Road is in the final stages of drying out, but concerns of more flooding remain.
Jo said: "It has been a traumatic event for us and it's not just that initial trauma of realising that all of your stuff has gone, but it makes you think about it all of the time.
"We're still now worrying about whether we're going to get flooded again, just as the buildings dried out. Is the river going to come and soak it again?"
Community rally's together
She told us support from the local community has been 'great' with people continuing to back the charity's work, while others have offered storage units and floor tiles for the main office when it's ready to be refurbished.
A go fund me page has also raised around £15,000, with a further £15k from the community too.
"It is an amazing community and we we're really lucky to have the support that we do from the community," Jo said.
However, when asked about support from Wiltshire Council, Jo said there has been very little so far.
Jo said she understands that there are limits to what the council can provide support with but told us: "When a crisis like this turns up, it would be nice to see them go a little bit further than that and maybe break their normal boundaries a little bit."
Moving back home
The charity hopes to be able to return to its home later this year, with Jo telling us they've been told it's likely to be in the summer.
But as we move towards mid-March, she told us there's uncertainty over that.
"It's been completely taken back to its bare bones," she said, adding: "We've never seen the building like that, the plaster's off the wall, what was behind the plasters come off. We're right back to bare bricks."
Jo told us it's currently being dealt with by the insurers, but that the work itself shouldn't take too long.
"It should just take a couple of months, so we're really hoping that we will be back in, in the summer," she said.
Council 'disappointed' at lack of Government support
Wiltshire Council said it's helping as much as it can, but says it's frustrated at the lack of support from central government.
Cllr Nick Holder, Cabinet Member for Highways, Street Scene and Flooding, said: “The flooding experienced in Chippenham and throughout the county was some of the worst seen for many years and we have been supporting residents and businesses as best we can.
“We have previously received financial support from the Government to help affected businesses and residents, but we were very disappointed that the Government decided not to provide financial support following Storm Bert.
“We are investing heavily into flood prevention throughout the county and have attended more than 70,000 gullies this past year to help prevent flooding to highways and properties. We have also tripled our capacity to fix more significant issues, with three teams of engineers completing CCTV drainage inspection work around the county so that we can identify problems and fix them more quickly.
“However, no amount of drainage or gullies work will prevent rivers from rising significantly when there is heavy rain, and so it’s important that communities are as prepared as they can be, as climate change brings milder and wetter winters and more significant storms.
“That’s why we’re working collaboratively with town and parish councils, the Environment Agency and other stakeholders through our Operational Flood Working Groups to improve flooding resilience at a local level.
“While we can’t prevent all instances of flooding, we’ll continue to invest in flood prevention and we will keep working with our partners and communities to ensure they’re as prepared as they can be.”
DEFRA planning prevention improvements
The Environment Agency says it's working to replace the sluice gate - which did help to reduce the severity of the flooding in November.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “In the flood event following Storm Bert, the sluice gate in Chippenham worked as expected and helped reduce the impact of flooding on the town. If the gate hadn’t operated correctly it would have significantly increased the amount of flooding. We are working hard to develop plans for the Chippenham Avon Project, which includes the replacement of this sluice gate, and are just finishing the initial design phase which identifies a preferred option. That will reduce the risk of flooding to Chippenham, but there will still remain a residual risk during extreme events.”
The agency says it hopes to have a public consultation in June or July, with the hope of construction starting in 2027.