Ashley Giles, in a prepared statement ahead of the Pears' annual general meeting slated for next week, emphasized the need for a sustainable, long-term solution to safeguard the club's future. The Worcestershire-based cricket club has been working on solutions to address the ongoing flooding challenges for years. These threats put their unique 126-year-old home ground at New Road in peril. Professional evaluations show that the club’s fields require total reconstruction. As such, the club now truly stands at a crossroads in determining what path to take moving forward.
The club's analysis has centered on two potential courses of action: learning to live with the recurring water issues or attempting to halt them entirely. Despite the promising potential of these alternatives, Giles cautioned that both options face significant hurdles. The financial toll of flooding is enormous, from clean-up expenses to pervasive revenue loss. Additionally, independent expert reviews have raised serious concerns that the reconstruction process would take 10 years or more.
Photo by USACE In her testimony, Giles outlined complications of flood prevention measures, like building a flood wall.
"A protective structure, likely at least 3.7m high, would incur an estimated cost of between £5m-20m, with the likelihood of costs exceeding the upper estimate," Ashley Giles stated.
The club looked into how walls or embankments could be used to prevent flood waters from coming in. A flood risk assessment commissioned by the community made clear that building these barriers would worsen flood levels for surrounding communities almost entirely. This discovery appears to be at odds with national and local policies banning flood defences raising risks to third parties.
"Furthermore, national and local policies prohibit flood defences that increase risks to third parties, and our commissioned flood risk assessment confirms that building a barrier would significantly impact surrounding flood levels," Giles added.
Giles admitted the engineering of a flood prevention fix is impossible and impractical.
"Given these findings, engineering a solution to prevent flooding is neither feasible nor sustainable," he remarked.
These are considerable challenges, but the club is hopeful about its long-term future at New Road. In an optimistic pre-season newsletter, the Pears shared their determination to remain on their historic home ground. They’re even considering different spaces to host their events down the line. After opening the season like the Pears with three straight games on the road, they then welcome Durham to the Racecourse for their first home Championship match on April 25.
On the future, Giles reiterated the club’s dedication to working alongside smart experts. Chiefly, they’re concerned with answering some key questions regarding the use of New Road, and considering other potential alternative sites.
"While our investigations into an additional venue remain ongoing, we continue to work closely with an internationally respected company to assess the critical questions of what, where, how, and when, for use alongside Visit Worcestershire New Road," he explained.
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