Our hydro installation will go ahead as planned despite some of the worst floods in the Rea for around 60 years. Many people will have seen news reports of the severe floods at Neen Sollars. As well as the damage to the road bridge, there was severe flooding at the Mill itself. The Co-op extends its heartfelt sympathy to John Bettinson who has sustained damage to house and garden.
With regard to the hydro project, the NSCH Board have been reviewing the designs and schedule. The installation has always been designed to cope with floods of this magnitude. The biggest problem is debris – ultimately the solution lies in management of the whole catchment, but we need to make sure our equipment is well protected and will be making some design improvements to help cope with the possibility of more frequent severe flooding. We remain on schedule to install this Autumn and start generating early in 2013 – more detail will be supplied as available – watch this space.