On the 26th of May, North Tyneside Council (NTC) issued a warning to its Community Flood Wardens: -

" Whilst much of the weekend will see plenty of fine and warm weather, heavy showers are expected to develop across NE England through Saturday and for this reason the Met Office has issued a Yellow Warning of Rain, valid from 13:00 on Sat, 27th May 2017 until 23:00 on Sat, 27th May 2017"

Very little rain fell over the weekend with no rise in the level of the lake. However it was noted that there had been little change in the level from that indicated in the first of the photographs below for several days. The current park warden has usually acted on advice about when to clear the wire mesh over the lake outlet grille "according to need". This is indicated when the lake water covers the jetty on the NW edge of the lake. Unfortunately he was off work for nearly 2 weeks up to the following weekend 3/4 June and during this time none of the alternative park warden staff who visited the park cleared the debris blocking the outlet grill in time to avoid the flooding that occured subsequently, as is apparent in the sequence of photographs below.

Although litter bins were emptied during the period of the regular park warden's absence nothing was done to clear the outlet. This was the main subject of my complaint submitted after sandbags were laid over the outlet in July 2015. I have since discovered, from documents obtained via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, that the first Nature Reserve Management Plan (2006) includes an objective, "Allow limited flooding of grassed areas around the edge of the pond during the winter, to encourage wading birds." A subsequent version (2015) refers to work done to create a path "to the rear of flood plain to enable circulation when water level is high". The reference to wading birds and to a flood plain were the products of a fantasy by a founding member of the group, "Friends of Marden Quarry" #. She wanted the area to the NW of the lake to be a wetland, an idea strongly opposed by the project manager (the late Will Hogg), regular park users and NTC at the time of the major work carried out in 2003 under NTC's planning application 03/00264/LAREG3. # Now believed to have been disbanded.

Further evidence of incompetence in the management of Marden Quarry Park : -

In a reply to a query about the lake outlet being blocked the (former) Parks Development Officer wrote, "I can confirm that the vegetation that is collecting around the grille of the outflow pipe from Marden Quarry is being cleared on a regular basis. On the days that the Park Warden is on duty he removes the fallen leaves and debris from the area however due to the time of year this is an ongoing process. The lake in Marden Quarry was designed to flood and the jetty referred to is on the side of the reserve which serves as a flood plain, the wading birds appreciate it." (30 November, 2016)

No wading birds have been seen at the NW edge even when the area was heavily flooded in June 2012 and December 2012 to March 2013.

In a letter (1 June, 2016) from the council officer dealing with stage 2 of NTC's complaint procedure: -

"There have been difficulties with the operation of the sluice gate in recent years culminating in the mechanism becoming fully jammed. It is clear that the sluice gate has reached the end of its serviceable life. Work was undertaken in Autumn 2015 to partially free the mechanism as a temporary solution. As part of the Burnside Road Flood Relief Scheme the intentions are to replace the structure with one that is new and more fit for purpose. This work will be undertaken in June/July 2016. This update addresses Recommendation 3 in my response of 1 February where I suggested that an update on the future of the sluice gate be provided. I know that you are watching with interest the works that Northumbrian Water are undertaking and, in close dialogue with them, the Council will monitor the installation and maintenance approach for the sluice gate going forward."

Nothing has been done to date - and there has been no sign of either of the two manhole covers that allow access to the outlet chanbers being disturbed for over a year!

In a letter from a ward councillor, dated 12 April 2016 (Ref: 159337) : -

Council officers have informed me : “We can confirm that following discussions with the Parks Manager that the general day to day cleaning of the grille would be carried out by the Park Wardens. Upon request, if there has been a large rainfall event which has brought excessive debris to the grille, the Park Wardens would contact the highway department to arrange for a machine to carry out a clearance operation. The grille is also checked by the Surface Water Team following receipt of a weather warning in order to establish the grille is clear and is able to operate during the forecasted rainfall event."

Subsequent enquiries, in November 2016, revealed that there was no machine and that neither the current park warden nor the Senior Manager (Environmental Services) knew of the arrangement described above !

R Smith 10 June, 2017

On 26 June, 2017 I wrote to NTC by email as follows: -

"I have received a further warning by text message from Northumbrian Water about heavy rainfall predicted tomorrow, 27 June 2017. "

"No action was taken in response to my request of 21 June (below #). Please arrange for the outlet grill in Marden Quarry to be thoroughly cleared prior to the expected rainfall. The current level is such as to spill over the wall at the NW edge. You can see from the contact photo prints attached that very little water is flowing out due to the wire mesh being blocked with weed etc. and that inside the grille the flow path is restricted by an accumulation of sediment. It is also possible that the top of the sluice gate has debris sticking to it as has been observed before."

# Perhaps you could ask the Surface Water Team to take action to avoid flooding of the NW edge of the lake In Marden Quarry - by thoroughtly clearing the lake outlet grill,

The following contact print of photographs were included with my email of 26 June: -

The outlet was cleared by the regular park warden to allow free flow of water on the morning of 27 June. About 24 hours later the water level had dropped by several centimetres but the rainfall over the following 24 hours, not heavy but persistent, led to further flooding of the NW edge by the afternoon of the 29th (Thursday). I believe the park warden had cleared the outlet on the 28th but it had become partially blocked again the following day when all three large inlet pipes were still pouring water into the lake.

RS 29 June, 2017

The first of the two short videos below illustrates the effect of blockage of the lake outlet grill on the flow delivered to the North Sea via the flap valve in the sea wall south of Browns Point (known as Jackey's Bay). The video has no sound other than in the two short sequences showing the flow out of the flap valve. Both sequences were filmed after a some days without rain so the flow is not influenced by drainage from the streets between Marden Quarry and the North Sea.

The second video was created after work carried out by Owen Pugh and Seymour (civil engineers) on 28 September, 2017 under contract to North Tyneside Council. During this work the flow into the lake outlet was blocked off using sandbags, A large diameter pipe was used to suck water out of the first inlet chamber, and a high pressure water hose used down the third chamber to flush out any debris from the pipe run between the lake outlet and its junction with Northmbrian Water's pipe in the grassed area of the scout hut. This also led to clearance of a "dry weather pipe" that was blocked. This runs from the first inlet chamber and joins with the pipe from the second chamber downstream.

Observation over the following weeks suggested that the sluice gate had not been returned to its original postion such that the only flow was via the "dry weather pipe". Subsequent measurements confirmed that the sluice gate was a few centimeters higher than before the pipe clearance work but it was also discovered, with the help of the regular park warden, that the rectangular notch (hole in the wall over which the original grille had been fixed) was also restricting the flow into the first chamber such as to create a drop in water level inside it. When this was cleared water began to flow over the sluice gate into the second chamber. This was discovered on 31 October, after the last sequence shown in the video below.

RS 4 November, 2017

Since before the end of November, 2017 the level of the water has not dropped sufficiently to uncover any part of the jetty at the NW edge. This was reported to North Tyneside Council's "Highways" to which the following reply was received on 18 January, 2018: -

“I can confirm there has been an order raised to remove the chicken wire over the front of the grille which will help reduce blockages to the grille which will allow the water to escape from the outlet. There are no intentions to lower the level of the water in the lake Jerry Dronsfield team who are responsible for the maintenance of Marden Quarry have been getting complaints regarding the silt levels of the lake so they have agreed to keep the current water levels in the lake in order to maintain the depth of water.” ( Andrew Burnett, Project Engineer)

Subsequently only part of the "chicken wire" was removed leaving a similar blockage as achieved using sandbags in mid-July 2015. The set of 4 photographs, taken at the end of January illustrate the effect on flooding of the NW edge again. (Click/tap on photographs for higher resolution version.)

6 April, 2018

RS 23 April, 2018