Havering Volunteer Centre call on residents to ‘Love Their Streets’ to help stop localised flooding.

“You don’t have to go miles out of your way, just take a look up and down your road and give it some TLC. If leaves have built up in your gulley this acts as a damn and prevents water from naturally draining away, litter, silt and blocked drains can all lead to surface water flooding.”

Havering Volunteer Centre do an outstanding job in our community. Led by their CEO Shelley Hart, the team are a actively working across our borough to support endless communities.

They launched a Flood Warden and Climate Champion programme in 2023 and has worked in partnership with the London Borough of Havering, The Wombles and Havering Green Streets in supporting a variety of activities. Its volunteers who make it possible for volunteer programmes like this to support local community resilience and contribute to preparing for, responding to and recovering from flooding and other emergencies.

With recent activities across the world where incidences of flash flooding have occurred and previous occurrences of flooding in the borough; Havering Volunteer Centre is calling on residents to ‘Love Your Street!”

Shelley Hart, CEO of Havering Volunteer Centre told the Havering Daily: “We all have a pivotal role to play in preventing surface flooding. All we need to do is love our street, this means being aware of the gulley’s and soakaways on the roads and streets we live in. You don’t have to go miles out of your way, just take a look up and down your road and give it some TLC. If leaves have built up in your gulley this acts as a damn and prevents water from naturally draining away, litter, silt and blocked drains can all lead to surface water flooding.”

Here are some top tips to help you ‘Love Your Street’:

• Clear gutters and outside drains – remove leaves and debris

• Pick up leaves and silt from the gulley’s to prevent damn formation, these can be put into your green bins or in clear sacks at the end of your street

• Report waste dumping into drains – cement, sand and plaster can block our drains

• Litter pick your street to prevent rubbish entering our drainage systems

When volunteering as a Climate Champion, flood warden or helping to Love Your Street, we do not expect anyone to put themselves or anyone else, in a situation where anyone’s personal safety is at risk. If you feel it is an emergency always contact the emergency services or the London Borough of Havering’s Emergency Planning Team.

If anyone would like to become a Climate Champion, Flood Warden or be part of the Borough Resilience Summit please contact Havering Volunteer Centre at Volunteering@haveringvc.org.uk

Residents can also sign up to receive alerts and weather warnings from the following:

• https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

• https://www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings

If you are unable to sign up for alerts there are also some great websites to check out for flood risks and flood history: 

• https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk

• https://www.gov.uk/request-flooding-history

The London Borough of Havering also provides a flood resilience guide on their website here: https://www.havering.gov.uk/environmental-issues/hazards-pollution-flooding/8

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