Sutcliffe Park Project - The Quaggy River flood alleviation scheme

The Quaggy River currently flows through a concrete pipe around Sutcliffe Park in Lewisham, London. The area, as is the norm in the Thames region, runs a high risk of flooding. However, to protect the 600 local homes and businesses at risk, the park will soon have the capacity to become a flood detention area.

At times of heavy rainfall, the river has a huge volume of water in it and in the past has flooded many times - severe floods occurred in 1958, 1962 and 1968. The last flood was in 1992 when 50 properties were flooded. To reduce this risk of flooding the Environment Agency has been working in Lewisham and Greenwich to improve flood defences and increase the capacity of the Quaggy River to temporarily store flood water.

The first stage was to create a large flood detention area in Sutcliffe Park. Greenwich Borough Council were originally reluctant to agree to the project as it meant losing 6 football pitches - but in its place will be a 'state of the art' landscaped environment. There will be a new park with wetlands and reed beds, a boardwalk, outdoor classroom, bridges, footpaths and flowering avenues of trees and wildflower meadows providing a variety of habitats for local wildlife and an improved leisure facility for the enjoyment of the people of Greenwich and Lewisham.

When finally constructed, the area will hold 70,000m3 of river water which otherwise would flood houses and businesses downstream in Lewisham. When rainfall is particularly intense, water will fill the park before being slowly returned into the river once the rain has subsided. The rest of the time, parts of the Quaggy river will meander through the park as a stream, creating a small wetland and lake area.

Generally, we expect the rainfall to fill the wetland area and reed bed at least once a year. Occasionally, around every five years, we expect the rain to fill the centre of the park covering some paths - and once every 70 years, the entire park could be closed due to the severity of the rainfall and all paths could be flooded. Only once every hundred years the park may be overfilled and water will escape back down the Quaggy river. The Environment Agency has worked solidly with a huge range of local authorities and local groups over a number of years to make the scheme work for everyone. Essentially the waters will always subside, and millions of pounds worth of property will be saved.