Background
The council is the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for London Borough of Barnet as stipulated under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. As an LLFA, we are responsible for managing local flood risks from surface water, groundwater, and ordinary watercourses across the borough.
Barnet’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy has identified the borough's top ten priority Critical Drainage Areas (CDAs). These are areas in the borough which are at the highest risk of surface water flooding. The Friern Barnet CDA is one of the top ten priority CDA's.
We are consulting on the proposed Flood Alleviation Scheme in Friary Park, Friern Barnet, N12. A small open ordinary watercourse, Blackett’s Brook, runs through Friary Park and gets culverted under Torrington Park. The proposed scheme is a natural flood management scheme which will create a series of flood storage interventions in the brook to hold back (store) flood flows in the park.
Benefits of the scheme
The proposed scheme aims to reduce the flood risk to the properties, highways, and infrastructure to the south of Friary Park including properties on Torrington Park and Friary Close. The constructed wetland will provide water quality improvements to Blackett’s Brook. The scheme will also deliver biodiversity, environmental and amenity enhancements to the park and its users.
Scheme details and what the scheme will look like
The scheme proposes to:
- construct a wetland / flood storage basin in the upper section of the watercourse in the north-western corner of the park.
- carry out river restoration works including removal of artificial banks, constructing two stage channel (river widening) and a series of small ponds, and introducing leaky woody dams (natural barriers) to hold back flow along the middle reach of Blackett's Brook as it further flows down the park.
Please see below the overview plan and visualisations of the proposed scheme:
What we are consulting on
We launched an initial consultation on the proposals, in partnership with Thames21 in Friary Park in March 2023 where we gathered your feedback at an early stage, before the detailed designs were progressed. We received positive feedback on the concept plans and the scheme was moved into the detailed design phase.
We now want to hear your views on our proposals, before the scheme is moved into the construction stage.
How to have your say:
Attend an engagement event in Friary Park:
The council, in partnership with Thames21, are organising the following events which you could attend to provide your feedback on the scheme:
- an online drop-in session on 9 October 2023, 6pm - 7pm. For an invite, email fwm@barnet.gov.uk
- a face-to-face event in Friary Park on 21 October 2023, 11am - 3pm.
Complete our online questionnaire
We are keen to hear your views on our proposals and encourage you to also have your say by completing our very brief and simple online questionnaire.
If you would like to request a paper questionnaire or another format, please: email fwm@barnet.gov.uk or telephone 020 8359 3555.
Alternatively, you can write to us at: Flood & Water Management, 7th Floor – Lead Local Flood Authority, Highways, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, London, NW9 4EW.
If you would like someone to help you complete the questionnaire or need more information, please contact us using one of the above methods.
What happens after the consultation closes?
This consultation closes on 25 October 2023. We will consider all the comments returned to us and, if possible, will incorporate them into the designs. We will publish the results of this consultation in November 2023.
Depending on the result of this consultation, the scheme is expected to enter the construction stage in early 2024.
