Isle of Wight road flooding fears at Newport meeting

Stephen Penman, of the Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Club, claimed a homeowner has diverted a stream into a lake the group owns in Gunville and warned Alvington Manor View homes could be flooded, at a meeting yesterday.

He said he was concerned for the residents but also told NCCC it should not be for a fishing club to have to take responsibility for the matter, adding ‘it’s not our problem’.

Mr Penman mentioned a spring in the middle of a field which he said always used to go to Lukely Brook.

Stephen Penman at Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council on Monday, May 11 (Image: IWCP)

“A homeowner has diverted the stream into our lake, it’s a metre pipe he’s put in there and there’s many thousands of litres that can come down there at any one time when the aquifer’s filled,” he said.

“I’ve been to the council meetings, and they have decided that they’re going to reinstate the original ditch but only two thirds of the way, they’re going to miss the Alvington Manor part.”

He later said: “You will definitely flood Alvington Manor View if we get a real bad winter of rain. Sooner or later, you will flood those homes and that’s my concern.”

Cllr Vix Lowthion, newly elected Green councillor for Carisbrooke and Gunville, who also serves on NCCC, said: “I am aware that there have been extensive investigations, reports, a hydrologist, a soil expert – there is a report which is pretty much ready to go.

“Certainly, when I start to have discussions with officers at the council, I’ll be looking for what you’re saying.”

In November 2024, heavy rain resulted in up to three feet of floodwater bursting into the homes of Gunville residents.

Properties on Gunville Road, near its junction with Ash Lane, were severely affected.

The year before that, up to six feet of floodwater ravaged homes during Storm Babet.