The scheme

Shropshire Council has been allocated funds from the Department for Transport to help address the causes of flooding in four known high-risk hotspot areas arising from insufficient highway drainage. Multiple serious flooding events have occurred in Albrighton in the last 20 years; 2006 and 2018 being the worst known to Shropshire Council. The main cause of flooding identified in the region was run off from fields on the eastern side of the village.

In an effort to mitigate this flood risk, Shropshire Council have commissioned alliance partners WSP and Kier to design and construct upgrades to the drainage system along the A41 Albrighton Bypass between Harriot Hayes Lane and Station Road.

Incorporating sustainability and slow-the-flow design measures, the works will see significant ditch reinstatement along the northbound verge of the A41, with new culverts installed under Station Road and the entrance to Albrighton Business Park to help capture and divert run off from the fields and highway towards Cosford Brook, north of the Birmingham to Shrewsbury railway line, where water will naturally attenuate.

As part of the works, and to ensure the future safety of road users along the A41, we will be removing a number of ash trees which have become diseased due to the fungus Ash Dieback. This will be carried out in accordance with national policies on habitat preservation, and with specialist advice from ecologists and arboriculturists. We'll be using wood from the felled trees to create natural check dams, which will be installed in the reinstated ditch to hold water and release it in a controlled measure. This will mitigate the system along Station Road being overwhelmed and flooding under the railway bridge.

The removed trees will be replaced with an equal number of native species to the local area, increasing habitats and biodiversity for local wildlife.

The programme

Our contractors will begin work along the A41, week commencing Monday 2 October 2023. The works are anticipated to last four weeks, and will see a week long road closure of Station Road (at the junction with the A41) whilst a new culvert is installed under the highway. Traffic management will be in place along the A41 throughout construction.