DPC Minutes - 28 March 1947

The reading of the Minutes of the last meeting was postponed until the next meeting as the records were not yet to hand owing to the flooding of the Council Office.

Business which would have arisen out of the Minutes;

a) 30 mph London Road. The Chairman reported Mr Burnley had secured an acknowledgement from the Ministry of Transport that the matter had been overlooked and an assurance that the Parish Council’s application would be soon dealt with.

b) Safety of Children crossing the Horton Road. Major Soden reported that it had been finally decided to establish a safety patrol for school children.

The 1947 Flood;

The Chairman read a general statement regarding the emergency meetings of the Council which had taken place at the commencement of the flood and the measures which had been taken to shelter the homeless, to evacuate people, to feed those who were marooned and to meet the emergency which had existed for upwards of 10 days – the statement made many recommendations. [This next section is crossed out] and it was agreed that it should be attached to the minutes as a document of historic importance.’

Considerable discussion ensued. The possible increase in the volume of water affecting Datchet during times of flood as a result of the proposed building of two reservoirs in Datchet and Wraysbury was the subject of a long debate. Major Soden referred to the breakdown of so many telephone lines during the recent flooding. Mr Corbett referred to a pocket of water at Welley Corner which had been occasioned by the stopping up of a watercourse.

Flood Committee;

Mr Wright proposed 2^nd by Mr Forbes that a Flood Committee should be set up to prepare complete records of the 1947 floods, to take such measures as is desirable to prevent a recurrent flood disaster, to make recommendations to assist the people of Datchet in the handling of a similar emergency and to convey the Council’s appreciation of the services of the various organisations and individuals who did so much to relieve the distress caused by the 1947 flood. This was unanimously agreed.

The Reservoirs;

It was proposed by the Chairman and 2^nd by Mr Wright and unanimously agreed that the Eton Rural District Council should be asked to provide for the investigation of the proposed Datchet reservoirs by a consulting engineer highly qualified in matters of this nature.

The proposed Reservoirs;

It was unanimously agreed to send a telegram at once to the Ministry of Health asking them to review the affect the reservoir would have on flooding having regard to the extreme nature of the recent floods and to inform Wraysbury

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Wraysbury Parish Council of the action taken. It was decided to ask Mr Burnley to ask for the question to be re-opened.

Pocket of water at Welley

It was decided that this matter should be dealt with by the Flood Committee and that Mr Stutt officer in charge of the Datchet Fire Service should be asked to look into the possibility of clearing the area of water.

Punts used during the flood.

The Chairman referred to the councils action in accessing punts during the flood and stated that 4 punts were actually taken but others perhaps 3 or 4 had been secured by local people and each had been put to very good service for the benefit of many families having regard to the security of transport. It was unanimously decided that the Council at this stage should undertake limited and conditional responsibility for all the punts used by the public at large during the flood.

Reference was made to a punt which had been hired by Mr Dunn the Riverside boat proprietor, to save gypsies near Welley Corner and which had been wrecked by a vehicle. For this punt the Council refused to accept any liability.

Pumping water from Centre

Mr Stutt explained that the NFS had experimented with the pumping of flood water from the centre of the village into the river. The experiment had been a success, although assisted by a concurrent drop in the river level. The operation took 21 hours over two days and 3,402,000 gallons was pumped from the centre of the village at a rate of 2,700 gallons per minute produced by 3 major pumps.

Stephens Stores change of lesees

The Chairman read a letter from Lovell, White and King intimating that a change of lessee from Mr Madileys to Mr Edwards of Plaistow was desired and submitting references to the proposed new lessee. It was proposed that this matter should be referred to the General Purposes Committee who were directed to obtain legal advice having regard inter alia to the expiration of the present lease in 1948.

Standing Committees

As a result of the flood emergency no reports of Standing Committee were submitted.

Eton RDC

The Chairman reported the nomination of 3 Parish Councillors for the Eton Rural District Council had not been contested and as a result Mr Bilyard, Soden and Jolsell would represent Datchet on the Rural District Council as from April 1947.

Report of the Rating and Valuation Committee on the Eton RDC

Major Soden reported that after the meeting of the Committee he had an informal conversation with the Ratings and Valuation officer regarding rateable values in flooded areas. Major Soden mentioned an interesting fact regarding valuation of certain properties

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in a neighbouring parish and its advantages. It was resolved to consider rateable values in flooded areas at a later meeting.

Annual Parish Meeting

At a suggestion by the Chairman it was resolved that the various matters raised by parishioners at the Parish Meeting (see minutes of the meeting) should be investigated and reported upon by the General Purposes Committee, this was unanimously agreed.

Annual Parish Council Meeting

It was unanimously agreed that the Annual Parish Council Meeting should be held on Wednesday 23 of April 1947 at 7.30 pm.

Barkers Bridge House Trust

In view of the fact that 2 vacancies in the Barker Bridge House Trust would no doubt be filled at the Annual Easter Vestry and having regard to the desirability of approaching Parish Councillors to fill the vacancies it was decided that as many of the Parish Council as were able should attend the meeting and should nominate Mr …… and Bilyard for appointment as trustees.

Charles M King

23.4.47