Calls for Environment Agency to bring back Black Sluice Pumping Station to protect south Lincolnshire

A drainage chief hailed news that the Environment Agency has agreed to look at the computer modelling which was used as evidence to close a pumping station as ‘a step in the right direction’.

Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board chief executive Daniel Withnall has been told by agency officials that they will be running a simulation of this year’s devastating floods using actual data and compare it to its earlier modelling.

The pumping station was decommissioned several years ago following a study which presented evidence that Boston site did not play an important role in protecting homes and agricultural land across south Lincolnshire.

Mr Withnall is among a number of people who feel that homes and fields close to the South Forty Foot Drain could have been saved from flooding if the decommissioned Black Sluice Pumping Station was operational.

They have been supported by a recommendation within a Lincolnshire County Council report on the impact of Storm Babet and Henk which called on the EA to ‘urgently’ revisit the modelling and ‘reconsider the future role of the pumping station’.

However, the EA has defended the decision by stating that the flooding which affected homes in Billingborough and Pointon was ‘unrelated’ to whether the pumping station had been working and that the ‘reduction in risk could not outweigh’ the costs of the facility’s refurbishment.

Mr Withnall told LincsOnline that he had a meeting with EA officials two weeks ago.

He said: “They have agreed to run a simulation of actual events and compare that to what the model says to see if it did what the model said it would - that is a step in the right direction.”

Mr Withnall said that his team has sent over data from the floods to the EA for them to use in the simulation.

He said: “It makes sense to do it that way and confirm if the model is right or not.”

The Black Sluice Pumping Station, which had been built in 1946 with five diesel pumps, straddles the South Forty Foot Drain, River Witham and The Haven.

A report to the Flood and Water Management Committee meeting states that three of the five diesel pumps were reported to be damaged by the tidal surge in 2013.

It goes onto state that the pumping station was decommissioned in 2018 on the basis that the navigation lock and existing sluice gate would discharge enough water at low tide.

But a ‘head of water’ is needed to discharge the water through the gates when the tide was ebbing. This would be removed if water was pumped while the tide was in.

The report into Storms Babet and Henk in 2023 and 2024 states: “However, in the instance of winter storms, the heads of water remained high.

“We were also advised that the Black Sluice Pumping Station would have made an appreciable difference to water levels further up the catchment had it been available for use during Storm Henk.

“This is the first instance since decommissioning where those with experience of the South Forty Foot and Black Sluice catchment believe the pumps would have made a difference, and subject to ongoing Section 19 investigations, the flooding in Wyberton West Road, Boston, in January 2025 may prove to be the second instance.

“Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board reported to us they had looked at the possibility of taking on the pumping station, for example adapting it to electric pumps, but it too expensive for the Black Sluice to afford from both capital and revenue costs.

“We conclude that there is an argument for the consideration of the recommissioning of the Black Sluice Pumping Station, as it may have a role in times of flood.

“With anticipated climate change, it is likely that there will be more and more frequent occasions where further discharge capacity is needed at Black Sluice than is currently provided by the navigation lock and single sluice gate.”