MILL CHASE RECREATION GROUND FLOODING & ROAD WORKS UPDATE

Miller Homes will be installing the new underground surface & foul water drainage from 8th December 2023 to service their new Mill Chase Park development. But more importantly this is essential work will replace the existing blocked surface water pipe which provides an outlet for the water from the Mill Chase Recreation Ground and will help alleviate any flooding in the future.

Cllr Andy Tree, Leader of Whitehill Town Council, said: “I am incredibly excited that this work will now commence before Christmas, following through on a commitment the town council made to residents to resolve this issue. I thank our General Manager Lorraine Jeffs for co-ordinating efforts with EHDC, HCC and Miller Homes to finally see this work completed. As a parent of a son who played for Wey Valley Football Club, I understand the frustration caused by regular flooding and so look forward to supporting the club with this work.”

The new surface water main runs across Mill Chase Road towards Washford Lane and work will be carried out under a road closure, but diversions will be in place and access allowed for residents of Washford Lane. These works will be stopped at the junction with Washford Lane before the Christmas break. The road closure will be removed over the Christmas period and work will recommence on 8th January 2024.

Washford Lane will then have a full closure towards to the Weyford Schools gate, but be fully accessible for all residents, while the surface water drainage excavations and laying of the new pipe continues for 25m to connect to the Thames Water manhole.

This part of the work is anticipated to take up to four weeks.

Whitehill Town Council has been working with Miller Homes on the successful completion of this project and we look forward to providing a purpose built drainage system that will allow residents to use our facility at Mill Chase Recreation Ground from 2024. This work has been funded by Miller Homes except for the installation of the land ditch (as shown on the diagram) which has been funded by developers’ contributions called ‘S106’ held by EHDC that we successfully applied for.

There is never an ideal time to create road closures but we take a view that this work cannot be delayed any further when residents have been asking for us to make this a priority before season is over, noting we also then have pitch improvement plan to begin!