Horncastle's Flood Alleviation Scheme at Watermill Farm, Hemingby: aerial 2024 (2)

Image: © Chris Taken: 7 Jan 2024

On the River Bain. See Image The £8.8m flood alleviation scheme is based on farmland close to Watermill Farm. It features a 720-metre long embankment five metres high with a 4m wide ‘crest’. The project was a multi-agency scheme which involved the Environment Agency, East Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Horncastle Town Council, the Witham Drainage Board and Anglian Water. The River Bain is channelled through the embankment, and in times of heavy rain, potential flood water is held back and allowed to create new holding lakes. Once the heavy rain has stopped - and the threat of flooding receded - the water is allowed to drain back into the river. The scheme was completed in 2017, but has had an eventful existence. It failed dramatically following Storm Babet in October 2023, when the gate into the holding lake failed to open. The latest theory, however, is that this was a one in a thousand year flood, which it would not have been able to compensate for. Finally it seemed to have saved the day at the beginning of January 2024, and the reservoir, shown here, is partly full. Despite high river levels, the water in Horncastle seemed to have covered only a footpath alongside a park - people were able to find another way to Tesco's!

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