"It's the most neglected street in Derbyshire": Chesterfield residents call for flood prevention and say they feel they've been "left to rot"

January 6 was supposed to be a special day for Lisa Thompson and her family – they were meant to finally move back into their Chesterfield house on Tapton Terrace, after flood caused by Storm Babet in 2023 left the property uninhabitable.

But at 6.20am they were woken by a flood alert – warning them that their house was at a risk of flooding again.

Lisa, a mum of two, said: “It was really awful and stressful. We bought new furniture, sofa, fridge, everything was in there after 14 months of waiting – and we had that flood warning.

"We had to move house nine times in the last 14 months, with a 17-year-old and 13-year-old boys, between the temporary accommodation offered by insurers, we’ve spent two Christmases away.”

This week’s warning came after two terrible floods that residents of Tapton Terrace had to face in 2007 and in 2023, when one of the residents Maureen Gilbert, 83, was founded dead by her son in her house.

Lisa said: “I can't go through a flood again. It's the second time this has happened to us. We had to move out in 2007, we had over four foot of water in the house. We had a four month old baby. We lost everything, we weren't insured. We had to move out for 11 months.

"We got through that, and in 2023 it happened again and was even worse. Now, on the day we're supposed to move in we had this warning. It feels like a nightmare or a really bad joke.

"Something needs to happen now. We haven't got the luxury of time. It will happen again, there's no qualm about it, the only question is when.

"Mrs Gilbert died in her house in 2023. Nothing has been done since. I feel like we've been left to rot. I'm not getting any younger. I don't want to be found dead by my son. That's the image that we're left with.

"We need to have the Environment Agency and Chesterfield Borough Council, and Derbyshire County Council all working together to prevent this from happening again."

Lisa is just one of several residents of Tapton Terrace who have been left living in fear of flooding for years.

Lorna Squires, a palliative and complex carer, who saw her Tapton Terrace house badly flooded in 2023, did not go to work today – instead she stayed at home bringing her furniture and belonging upstairs.

She said: “I'm absolutely stressed. I spent all morning running up and downstairs with furniture, kitchen and cupboard stuff, anything I could grab to get upstairs, because we got a flood warning. I ended up losing a day's work, putting a family out when I was supposed to be looking after their child.

“The 2023 flood was horrendous, we were living in a caravan in the garden for a year after. And since storm Babet, this is the third serious scare we've had. How many times can you keep running up and downstairs with furniture? How many days can you afford to be off work?

"We were hoping for a compulsory purchase, because then we'd have to be found homes to live in. But nothing happened. Some people on here put their houses up for sale since they've been done up, and nobody has bought them. Who wants to buy your property that floods?” Ann Squires, another resident, had to live in a garden shed with her partner, son and daughter for 14 months.

Ann, who only moved back to the house last week, said: “Every time it rains, you look on the river levels on the internet and just sit there worrying. Every time you hear your phone when it rains, you're asking is it a flood warning coming in?

"It's it's a nightmare and it's scary. It screws your mental health beyond belief.

“It flooded in 2007 and 2023. Nothing's been done. They've not fixed any of the wall that runs down the bottom end of the street that it’s supposed to stop the water. At five o'clock this morning, water was pouring through the cracks in the wall.

"The last time, they just came and put a bit of filler in the wall after 2007 floods. In 2023 it obviously cracked again and nobody's done anything with it since.

"We've had to pay full council tax for living in the garden shed. It's beyond joke. We’ve spent most of the day in the shed, and would sleep upstairs.

"Toby Perkins was here last year, talking to people about having the house all compulsory purchased, instead of trying to find ways of helping us, they would just get rid of us. But the land's not fit enough for us to be here, never mind anybody else.

"We rent, but we are in the same situation as people who own their houses. The Housing Association, who owns our house have no more houses in Chesterfield. There's nowhere else for us to go. We're stuck like the people who own the houses. We just we have less say in how things get sorted with the houses. But we still have to pay our rent.

"We’ve had no help of the council, nothing. We've been to the council quite a few times. They said the only thing they could offer is a couple of rooms in some Air B&B's, with no kitchen. They said they would have to split us up and put my husband and son in one, and me and my daughter somewhere else.”

David Thomas, who has lived at Tapton Terrace for about 50 years, said: “It's been daunting this morning. There’s quite a bit of water in my cellar.

"Every time it rains, it gets stressful, we're all very wary because in the last flood I lost my next door neighbour. It was a tragedy. But they seem to have swept that under the carpet.

"We didn’t get help from the council. MP Toby Perkins was down here after Storm Babet, so you would think he'd have done something, but no. If it hadn't been for the Lighthouse Church who raised funds for us, plus all the hard work from residents, we would have been in a right mess.

"Tapton Terrace is the most neglected street in the whole Derbyshire. We have floods, we’ve only got two street lights, they are 100 year old lampposts converted from gas to electric. It's the darkest place at night time, nobody can see anything.”

David’s step daughter Michelle Cafferty, said: “I was worried sick. You would like to think that the local MP and the council was going to provide some support and put some measures in place after a lady died after the 2023 floods.

"It wasn’t the first flood there either, it has happened to them in 2007 too and it was catastrophic. It was horrendous for them to not do anything with the river, to not put any flood prevention, or repair the wall by the river.

"In 2023 Toby Perkins came to the site when the TV crews were there and promised that he would get tankers to pump the water out. My elderly step dad organised the tankers to pump the water out of all the houses and paid with his own money. He was happy to do that but it's just disappointing that Toby Perkins promised that and didn't deliver.

"If it wasn't for the Lifehouse Church, residents would have received no support at all. The church were amazing, but that was all charity donations from the general public.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: “We can understand why residents who were flooded last year feel anxious every time it rains heavily, it must be a worrying time for them.”

The authority said they had reported the issues with the wall to the Environment Agency.

They added: “We continue to work with all key partners, including the Environment Agency, who are responsible for flooding from rivers such as the River Rother, to try and reduce the risk of flooding in Chesterfield.

"Unfortunately, in such extreme events, we can't prevent flooding entirely and despite the work conducted so far and planned for the future, some areas of Chesterfield remain at risk of flooding.

“With the Environment Agency we’re looking at options to either remove or refurbish bridges on the Rivers Hipper and Rother to remove obstructions to flow.”

They said since Storm Babet a number of steps have been taken to prevent further flooding.

Alongside the Environment Agency the council conducted inspections of all the places where flooding happened, notifying the relevant landowners of issues they needed to deal with.

The council offered financial support for those affected by the floods through the Property Flood Resilience grant scheme and received over 500 applications.

Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, said: “I have been intimately aware of the appalling impact that flooding has on our communities since the floods in 2007 and so completely understand the despair that people who live daily with the fear of floods experience.

“However, it is important to me that flood victims know both what I am campaigning for and what has already been delivered to protect their properties.

"I am pursuing the Environment Agency to consider an updated dredging assessment for the Rother near Tapton Terrace. I will also be meeting with the Environment Agency on Friday at the Avenue Flood Reservoir to discuss the ongoing situation and whether there are any operational improvements that can be undertaken to improve its effectiveness.”

He added: “A key reason why the floods that hit on New Year’s Day and then again at the weekend did not lead to homes being flooded here was because of flood alleviation measures that we have already put in place for the River Rother at the Avenue Flood Storage Area.

"The 245,000 cubic metre storage facility worked as it should have done and prevented homes being flooded when the river levels peaked, these measures, which I fought to secure for the area in my first term as MP, and cost an 8 figure sum have prevented homes getting flooded.”

Yorkshire Water has also announced it is investing over £5m in three storm overflows in and around Chesterfield to reduce the number of storm water charges into Calow Brook, the river Hipper and the river Rother.

Mr Perkins added: "These overflows will hold almost 600,000 litres of wastewater during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall, before returning it to the network for full treatment once the rainfall event has passed. I recently visited the Somersall Park storm overflow work which will soon be completed."

Mr Perkins further explained that temporary measures had already been put in place alongside the bridge at River View, and the Environment Agency is set to complete permanent work to install an upstream flood wall with a return to it to stop water passage past it to help protect Hawthorne Street, Sherwood Street, Bridge Street and River View.

He added: “The situation at Horns Bridge Roundabout also needs addressing, though it is better that the road should flood than into residential properties. Yorkshire Water is investigating the feasibility of a storage measure at Horns Bridge to be introduced during the next asset maintenance programme period.

“I now wish to secure a flood alleviation scheme to reduce the risk of flooding to properties on the River Hipper in Chesterfield, which is not protected by a substantial scheme like the Avenue Storage on the River Rother.

"I have already had meetings with Defra and the Environment Agency on the potential business case for a scheme, but there are funding and other issues that need to be resolved.

“I don’t pretend that we can ever be certain that any measures will provide complete protection from weather events like Storm Babet, but I can assure all my constituents that flood prevention is my number one priority, and that we have already delivered improvements as well as working to identify new ones.

"I have arranged for the Floods Minster, Emma Hardy MP, to visit Chesterfield soon to discuss in detail what is needed to reduce the risk of flooding and to protect houses and businesses.

“As Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, I am also heading a review in Parliament into the Government's plans for flood alleviation, which is taking evidence now and will report before the summer.”

Commenting on the situation at Tapton Terrace, a spokesperson for Chesterfield Borough Council said: “We fully understand the concerns that have been raised by residents in the area, and we are continuing to work with our partners, who are the lead flood authorities and agencies, to provide support.”

They added: “In any calendar year, we receive hundreds of requests for temporary accommodation, and we always do our best to find accommodation that enables families to stay together and children to access the schools they normally attend.

“Unfortunately, at times of high demand, where several families might be displaced as a result of flooding or another emergency or rough-sleepers are impacted by severe winter weather as is the case this week, we sometimes have to place family members at different locations until more suitable accommodation becomes available.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

“We know the devastating impact flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is our top priority.

“The Environment Agency and its partners are taking a number of steps to reduce the risk of flooding from the River Rother in Chesterfield.

"This includes delivering the Avenue Flood Storage Reservoir; and a natural flood management project at Grassmoor Country Park and investigating further options to implement flood storage."