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problem was essentially a technical one, affecting the general
drainage and sewer systems, and a great deal of study had to be
given to it.
As a result of these investigations it has been concluded
that it will be impossible to provide a sewerage system which would
guarantee complete immunity from flooding under all conditions and
that a storm of less intensity than those which occurred in 1960
should be selected to form a practicable basis for relief sewer
design. It is evident from the surveys made that the County
Council's Counters Creek main sewer and some of the local sewers
will have to be relieved.
The London County Council's main sewers are capable of
taking a rainfall intensity of one.quarter of an inch an hour over the
whole of their West London drainage area, and they propose to increase
this capacity by fifty per cent. This rate will also cover storms of
higher intensities over parts of the total area, e.g., an intensity of
one and seven.eighths inches per hour over an area of one thousand
acres.
To match the main sewer proposals of the County Council,
the Borough Council's local sewers draining to Counters Creek, north
of Kensington High Street, should be made capable of taking a rainfall
of one.and.a.half inches per hour without surcharge. This means that
the Council will have to increase some of the existing sewer capacities
very considerably by constructing relief sewers, and provided this is
done a greater degree of protection against flooding will result except
in about four hundred and thirty cases where houses have basement floor
levels either below or less than one foot above the crown of the sewers.
The drainage of North Kensington is mainly taken into the
Counters Creek main sewer and there are forty.six separate catchment
areas within the borough draining into the section north of Kensington
High Street. The Council's sewers are large enough to prevent
flooding in forty.three of these areas if the intensity of storm does
not exceed the standard being adopted by the London County Council for
design purposes and provided the basements are not lower than one foot
above the soffit of the sewer. The following three areas are
principally subject to flooding, vizs.
(i) The area covering Bomore Road, the western section of
Lancaster Road, Blenheim Crescent west of Ladbroke
Grove and Lansdowne Road north of Lansdowne Rise,
which includes most of the Pembridge Ward. This area
drains into the Counters Creek sewer at Lancaster Road
and also takes some drainage from Paddington in the
Westbourne Park railway area. The Borough Council's
sewer should be relieved of a large part of its storm
water near the junction of Elgin Crescent with
Kensington Park Road and again near Bomore Road.
(ii) The area covering most of the northern portion of the
Norland Ward and about one.third of the St. Charles
Ward (south.eastern section). This area drains into
the Counters Creek sewer near Henry Dickens Court.
The Borough Council's sewer should be relieved near
the junction of St. Mark's Road with Cornwall Crescent
and later it can be combined with the relief sewer
from area (i) suitably enlarged to take the additional
flow.
(iii) The area covering the central portion of the Holland
Ward and parts of the southern section of the Norland
and Pembridge Wards. The Council's sewer meets the
Counters Creek sewer near Royal Crescent and requires
relief at a point near Holland Park Avenue/Norland
Square junction.