STORMWATER plans to combat flooding on a Kendal estate have been deferred by councillors following passionate public objections.

Hallgarth estate residents turned out at a meeting of South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee to condemn a scheme by South Lakes Housing.

It plans to create a stormwater basin – capable of holding 120,000 litres of water to a depth of 1.5ft on land near High Sparrowmire and Kettlewell Road.

Its aim would be to temporarily store water during storms and divert run-off water away from a flood-hit rear garden in High Sparrowmire and protect two homes in nearby Low Garth, which are regularly flooded.

It would also provide a “drainage solution” for 26 new homes planned by the housing association for the top of the estate on land off High Sparrowmire and Moore Field Close, the applicants said.

But residents strongly argued that the current drainage system is inadequate and needs fixing first. They said the short term measure of a basin could  aggravate problems once the 26 new homes are hooked up to the “overloaded” system.

The estate suffered five major floods between 2009 and Storm Desmond in 2015. Regular flash floods have also occurred, including in June 2012.

Resident Joanne Miller said Hallgarth’s “50-year-old drains can no longer cope with “Kendal’s rainy climate”.

The solution, she said, was a complete overhaul of the estate’s drainage, which the county council and United Utilities were unwilling to pay for.

She told councillors: “South Lakes Housing wants to add to the problem. Why would they consider building houses at the top of the estate overloading the already inadequate system downstream?”

Kendal Town Council objected with local ward councillor Jon Owen speaking against. Cumbria County Council, the lead local flood authority, raised no issues with the plans, however.

SLDC planning officers said there was “no reason at all” the scheme could not go-ahead and a refusal by the committee could not be defended at appeal.

Paul Naylor said the basin would “overburden” the current system and create a “significant flood risk”.

He said on average, 10 children a year under the age of five died from drowning and the basin would be sited near where children lived and played.

Resident Richard Smith called the proposal a “fudge and folly” and that its designers conceded it would not solve historic or existing flooding”.

Resident Amegna Cassagne questioned the basin’s capacity to hold water – saying falling rain could top up its levels, undermining how much it could hold.

Troy Meluish, an associate with civil engineers RG Parkins, defended the scheme, and said other schemes and drainage improvement works were planned for the estate.

He said the location was “ideal” and it would help reduce flooding downstream and was an important solution” to resolve flooding in Low Garth.

“The risk of drowning has been assessed and is considered negligible as this basin will not form a permanent pond and will only ever becoming inundated during the most extreme storms to a maximum depth of 400mm (1.3ft).”

Kendal Town Council objected with local ward councillor Jon Owen speaking against. Cumbria County Council, the lead local flood authority, raised no issues with the plans, nor did United Utilities.

SLDC planning officers said there was “no reason at all” the scheme could not go-ahead. Mark Lynch, development team management, told councillors: “You’re a decision-making body, you don’t have to take my advice if you don’t want to but there are risks involved if you go against the recommendation.

“I can assure you that if it goes to a planning appeal we will have a severe problem trying to defend a refusal on appeal. That’s my honest professional opinion.”

Councillors agonised over the application with Liberal Democrat, Conservative and a new Green Party councillor, all expressing uncertainty.

Cllr Kevin Lancaster said the basin’s contribution to a severe flooding event would be so “trivial and ineffective as to be worthless”.

He said the project was not even a “sticking plaster” to deal with the fundamental drainage issues and proposed it be deferred, second by Cllr Vicky Hughes.

She said: “I am struggling to approve this application, it may alleviate some of the issues but it won’t deal with the whole problem. My main concern is health and safety, I don’t buy that houses overlooking is a way of having natural surveillance, I don’t buy that at all. I think the location is a risk.”

Councillors voted unanimously to defer the application.