FAQs

You can check your flood risk via the London Borough of Harrow website: flood zones and rivers page. You can also check for flooding here: https://check-forflooding.service.gov.uk/

Information about who to report flooding to can be found on the London Borough of Harrow website: Flood Advice 

Surface water flooding should be reported to the Council via the Report Flooding webpage

These roads have been selected as they have experienced flooding and face high-medium surface water flood risk. The roads also have great potential for improved drainage and the installation of permeable surfaces.

No, the choice is 100% yours. If you are / not interested in the scheme please complete the survey to inform the Council.

A target of at least 6-12 adjacent properties will provide some resilience should this happen, but, depending on the scale and stage of the project this could delay or prevent the work from happening at your property. We will be engaging early to increase the buy-in to reduce the risk of this happening. You would not need to increase the amount of storage or number of features on your land to compensate should a neighbouring property pull out and the scheme continued.

Surface water flooding affects us all. Getting involved with the scheme will reduce the amount of rainwater runoff in your road reducing the risk of flooding to you and your neighbours.

The first way to get involved is to complete the survey. You are also welcome to attend the drop-in session. 

There will be further opportunities for involvement, including a further drop-in session, workshops and meetings. You can also send an email to the team.

Your feedback is valuable and encouraged and we need the involvement of homeowners to make this project work.

No, the Council aims to secure external funding to cover all costs associated with designing and implementing the Wealdstone: Rain Ready Neighbourhood project.

Some temporary disruptions are expected during construction, but we are committed to minimising these and providing timely information on any changes. Affected property owners will be contacted directly with more information as the project progresses.

Temporary works will be used by the contractors.

There will be a short period in which your driveway will be inaccessible. We will discuss and agree this timescale with you in advance and ensure access to your property during the works.

Alternate arrangements will be made including parking bay suspension throughout construction.

The Council will be responsible for managing the contractors completing the works.

The homeowner will be responsible for maintaining their own front garden and driveway on completion of the works and a maintenance factsheet will be issued to all homeowners on completion of the works. This is in the same way that your existing gutters and certain drainage pipes and chambers on your land are your responsibility to maintain. Any new features will be more easily accessible and require less intensive maintenance where undertaken in line with the factsheet you will receive.

A certificate of completion will be issued once works are finished. There will also be a 12-month defects period.

Designs will be further developed if there is enough interest from residents during phase 1. The team will work with you to decide the best option(s) for you once we have secured external funding for the project.

Timescales

The pilot project will be delivered over a two-year period and will be split into four key phases as described below.

Phase 1 (Winter 2024-2025):  

• A community engagement exercise to investigate the number of homeowners willing to participate in the pilot and consent to the installation of underground pipes and storage chambers below a permeable landscaped front garden and driveway. 
• The initial engagement with residents on targeted roads includes a letter drop and an online survey for homeowners to complete to register their interest in the scheme. During this time, the team will also conduct door knocking to encourage homeowners to complete the survey. 

Phases 2-4 (March 2025 – September 2026):

• Phase 2: If the Council acquire a good level of agreement from at least 6 neighbouring properties on a single road, then the team will pilot this approach on one of the three target roads and start outline design work. External funding will also be sourced during this phase.
• Phase 3: If the scheme was able to attract sufficient funding, then the project team would proceed with the designs to detailed stage. This phase would also include engagement with the homeowners who had expressed an interest during phase 1. The consultation during this phase will include a community workshop, a further drop-in session and meetings with residents.
• Phase 4: This phase will involve homeowners signing legal agreements that will include agreement to construction and ongoing maintenance, ahead of physical construction in spring/summer 2026.

Please send enquiries about this project to: infrastructure@harrow.gov.uk