Twigworth couple 'living in fear' in 'unsellable' house

A couple whose "unsellable" home has flooded eight times since 2007 say they "live in fear every time it rains".

Valerie Lown and her husband Derek Lown are still in a holiday let after their Gloucestershire home flooded on 4 January during Storm Henk.

They believe the flooding is being made worse by the government's approval of new homes on flood plains.

The government said it understood the impact of flooding and was investing billions across England to help.

Before buying the Twigworth house, Ms Lown said the couple were aware the property had flooded in 2002, but the Environment Agency (EA) website said this was only likely to happen every 100 years.

The EA now warns the house could soon flood annually, she said.

The couple first experienced their home flooding in 2007 and Ms Lown said it was "horrendous".

"We had three to four feet (0.9-1.2m) of water through the house, we lost everything," she said.

Since then, they have faced difficulties with flooding on Christmas Day in 2014 and during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Ms Lown said the pandemic had meant nobody could come into the house to help the couple and they could not move into a hotel because of coronavirus regulations.

"We had to live upstairs in our bedroom with our German Shepherd," she said.

Human activities are causing world temperatures to rise, with higher sea-levels, heavier rainfall and flooding among the consequences.

The couple believe the amount of housing being approved on nearby flood plains is making the problem worse.

They said the government had overruled Tewkesbury Borough Council by approving 10 housing estates on flood plains in a four-mile (6.4km) radius of the couple's home over the past seven years.

"We just cannot go on like this anymore and the government needs to be taken to task," Ms Lown said.

They say their house is now "unsellable" and they are "living on a knife edge".

"I think about the fact that I have a daughter, I have four grandchildren, this is their inheritance, what am I going to leave them?" Ms Lown said.

Laurence Robertson, the Conservative MP for Tewkesbury, said the couple's story was "very sad".

"Where there's been a state failure, I think the state needs to step in and take action to correct it.

"It really doesn't seem that we're protecting people who already live in those areas," he added.

Mr Robertson said safety measures needed to be considered when building in the area, rather than focusing on the number of houses which could be built.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was aware of more than 140 Gloucestershire properties which flooded during Storm Henk in January.

A spokesperson said: "That's why, as part of a £450m government investment across the Midlands, we are supporting the Tewkesbury Flood Warden Scheme, as well as surveying properties in the Severn Vale to identify suitable flood prevention measures, including pumps, flood barriers and air brick covers.

"This forms part of a wider £5.2bn funding package across the country to help communities become more resilient to flooding and climate change."

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