BEWDLEY will be better protected against flooding after a new scheme was unveiled in the town.

Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier opened the Queensway estate flood risk management scheme, which has an L-shaped embankment, combined with a control structure to allow for upstream storage of water.

It is able to temporarily retain water in the field above the culvert which runs under the Queensway estate, reducing water volume at times of high flow.

In June 2007, more than 50 homes on the estate were flooded, and Dan Hine, Environment Agency project manager, said: “We are delighted that the flood scheme is now ready to be opened. The new flood storage area will ensure that residents of the Queensway estate are far better protected from flooding.”

Gill Holland, of the Riddings Brook Flood Group, said: “We are grateful to Chris Grainger for allowing the flood storage area to be built on his field and to the Local Levy system of funding which has enabled this scheme to be financed.”

Mr Garnier added: “The local flood action group is the epitome of the ‘Big Society’. Everyone involved has put in a lot of work, especially Gill Holland, who has been leading residents’ action against flooding in Bewdley. She really is a local hero who, along with other volunteers, has put in thousands of hours.”