February 2026
Tallington Flood & Drainage repairs update as at 16th February 2026.
As I write this on Monday 16th February its clear from my own pool pit soakaway that the water table continues to rise being today 4ft 2 inches below my home’s ground level and having risen by 12 inches in the last 7days! Older properties are likely to be nearer the water table level. So, we all need to be vigilant while the rain continues. LCC Floods and water team have now confirmed that they will be installing 3 early warning telemetry stations - one being at the river bridge in the sheep field dyke with another in the wooded marsh/wetland area upstream of the bridge beyond Hawthorne cottage that we continue to monitor during heavy rainfall as an indicator of when and if to call for the Environment Agency 8” pump.
Network Rail have not attempted any further work to clear the blockage at the crossing since my report last month. NR asserts that whilst CML were unable to clear the blockage fully before Xmas they did remove quite a lot of material out of the stone box system. There is however little evidence of improved flow through toward the open dyke next to the Whistle stop pub. NR state that further significant works are therefore still required to clear the culvert fully and CML and the NR works delivery team are yet to provide a design option or confirm they have been allocated the funding? Also, I discovered yesterday that the manhole cover prior to the pump chamber in the area cleared by Anglian Water early last year had been removed, presumably by CML during their pre-Xmas works. A dead Muntjac deer was blocking the culvert having fallen into the open chamber! AW removed it this morning and secured the cover. The emergency pump is still in place and after inspection today we will be asking NR to use it sooner rather than later as the water is still not flowing out of the village at this point.
Clearing of the surface water sewer/culvert on Main road – Interestingly the large lingering pools of water in usual spots on Main Road through village during rain have of late either been absent or dissipate very quickly once the rain stops. However, with the water table rising this might not continue to be the case with the first blocked toilet reported this week. AW and LCC Highways still have further repair work to complete. AW are awaiting the start of their new financial year in April. LCC repaired the headwall and drainage outfall pipe in Bainton Road on 22nd January; the kerb raising outside of 54 Bainton Road needs a rethink, as when they attended site, they found a fibre optic cable in the way of the works. The rest of the works along Main Road to include balance of new gullies, 3 kerbs to be raised (The Old Forge, Greystones and The Chestnuts) have now been booked with a road closure for up to 5 nights between 16/3/26 to 27/3/26. LCC will be issuing publicity to the residents. The closure has been booked like this to allow for the possibility that winter maintenance/gritting operations may affect the exact scheduling of the works.
AW have been using tankers at the pumping station at Searson Close during early February whilst they replace an old stench pipe with a new air valve at the Barholm road works.
Casewick Lane and Casewick fields. – The ditch along the Main Road from St Lawrence way entrance to opposite Hawthorn lodge on Casewick lane cul de sac was cleared by SKDC before Xmas and this dyke together with the culvert under the St Lawrence Way Road and Casewick Lane including the new culvert pipe under the lane will in future be maintained by SKDC. This includes the chamber with the non-return valve at the junction of Casewick Lane with St Lawrence Way. The dyke will not fully empty opposite Hawthorn Lodge as the inherent level flows back to the Main Road dyke but it should overflow into Casewick lane dyke when level high enough to prevent flooding the cul de sac. Water is flowing well from here across Casewick fields to where the dyke goes under the rail tracks and into the cement works. There is a constant steady flow the whole route. Quite a bit of standing water in Casewick fields to North of village indicating ground sodden. The ditches other side of rail tracks going into cement works are flowing out through to the Rabbi after the cement works and draining from fields but there is more debris in dyke through the cement works and under the 2 service roads and SKDC officer help has been sort to action work by the cement works management.
Maxey Cut Bank erosion works – Work to repair the embankment upstream of Tallington Bridge at the waterfall area is still pending, with contractors yet to be appointed - currently the bank remains stable and is being regularly checked: However, there is evidence of badger burrowing on the river side of the bank upstream of the waterfall that the mesh wire under the banks appears to have repelled. There is also a large badger set field side of bank under the hedge upstream of the river bridge after the wooded wetland area. The Parish council will press the EA to urgently address these issues.
Additional measures around River flap valve –
The Environment Agency responded to the concerns expressed to me by many of you early Sat 7th February when a flood warning was issued and after a call their team were here later that morning pumping out water at the bridge flap valve inlet from the dyke to install the long-awaited winter bung. It had become clear since before Xmas that the new heavy duty flap Valve was still not functioning as designed even in average river flows with water in the sheep field dyke appearing to rise and fall with the river. The Spalding duty officer instructed the team to also replace the polythene and sandbags back over the bung. This has stopped the sheep field dyke water rising with the river although there is still water in it - rising minimally of late with rain water run-off from the fields towards Copt Hill where some fields now have areas of standing water. The river throughout Saturday 7th and also 0n the 15th Feb rose to 1.44 metres (highest level in many months). The Flood response team will continue to monitor the water level in the sheep field dyke for field run off and pump out if required.
The parish council have a meeting later this month with EA officers to discuss a better long-term solution with the flap valve including the penstock gate that they were unable to fit as planned back in Sept 25.
As and when new information becomes available the Parish council website will be updated. The next MAG meeting is on the 4th March 2026.
Stay safe. Philip. Tallington Parish council as at 16th February 2026.