## **The Alconbury Brook Flood Group Charity** # **ANNUAL REPORT 2023-2024** ## **THE ALCONBURY BROOK FLOOD GROUP CHARITY REG NO: 1204246** **TRUSTEES: Deborah Hose April Stone Patrick Rogers Anthony Davison Robert Johnson Philip Baker** **The charity is managed by 5 trustees who are also members of the Alconbury Brook Flood Group management committee. The trustees meet regularly and separately but may invite others to their meetings to make project proposals or provide progress reports. Minutes are kept of all meetings Public Benefit: Achievements and performance to meet our objectives:** Objective 1: TO ADVANCE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL, AND WITHIN THE CATCHMENT OF ALCONBURY BROOK IN PARTICULAR, IN FLOOD PREVENTION MEASURES BY SUCH MEANS AS TRUSTEES SEE FIT FROM TIME TO TIME. The trustees of Alconbury Brook Flood Group Charity have met regularly. The trustees have devised an effective system of financial control. The trustees have bid for a number of funds. These will enable the trustees to support the charities work into the next year. The trustees have also agreed a dispute resolution policy. The trustees communicate day-to-day with email and WhatsApp and face to face meetings. The trustees have paid for use of the village hall for regular meetings. The Charity has worked to provide local residents with better information about flood risk. “Connected Cambridgeshire” have started to install an Internet network across the catchment which our equipment can communicate with. We have already installed some experimental soil moisture sensors. (Soil moisture levels predict whether heavy rain will cause flooding or not). We are working on sharing the data collected in real time through our website. The Charity has made three payments to purchase sensor equipment. We have also run focus groups with the residents, farmers and allotmenteers all of whom can benefit from the data we have collected so they may have an input into how the data is presented. In addition, we have provided information about our work and flood related issues to residents through village wide leaflets, a door to door survey, the Alconbury Village Fete Public meetings and a monthly bulletin. We also presented at a regional conference to other flood groups and local authorities. Objective 2: 2. THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, BY SEEKING TO IMPROVE FLOOD DEFENCES BY WORKING AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE COMMUNITY, OTHER SIMILAR ORGANISATIONS AND RELEVANT AUTHORITIES TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FLOODING WITHIN THE CATCHMENT OF ALCONBURY BROOK BY HELPING MANAGE THE FLOW OF WATER INTO, THROUGH AND OUT OF THE AREA, AND GIVING SUPPORT TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES IN KEEPING THE DRAINAGE INFRASTRUCTURE CLEAR, WELL MAINTAINED AND MONITORED, WITH A VIEW TO MINIMISING THE IMPACT ON HUMAN LIFE AND PROPERTY. In previous years the Environment Agency (EA) has undertaken clearance of the banks of the brook to improve the conveyance of flood water. This has been done by large machines which have not been able to reach many parts of the banks, for example where trees and telegraph poles are in the way. A large team of volunteers from the villages and beyond have done bank clearance using hand tools. This has been done in liaison with the EA to ensure maximum benefit. Previous modelling has suggested that improving maintenance can reduce flood risk by more than 5%. In order to support the volunteers, the trustees have made the following purchases. - A single person Dinghy, and relevant boat licence for use on the brook - 2 strimmer’s, 2 brush cutters, petrol can and petrol, chain saw oil. - 3[rd] party and personal injury insurance for volunteers and trustees. - Costs of a summer barbeque event for volunteers to thank helpers and celebrate good work done. Equipment and insurance for volunteer maintenance was funded with a grant from Cambridgeshire County Council This volunteer work has continued into financial year 2023-4. We surveyed volunteers after the season, many remarked on a sense of achievement and enjoying the social aspect of volunteering. The Charity worked with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) to refurbish a pond at Black Lodge. This will store water from around 50ha of the catchment after heavy rainfall. FWAG directly for the pond although the project management was undertaken by the Charity. The Charity supported a further project to increase the size of the floodplain by 0.4ha. When Buckworth Brook, a tributary of Alconbury Brook rises, water starts to fill the floodplain scrape. The level was carefully calculated so that the scrape is only flooded when water rises significantly in Alconbury Weston. The grant of £5000 from the Windfarm Charity (Cambridgeshire Community Foundation) was specifically earmarked for this project with other funding coming from donations. The Charity used its funds as follows - Construction of the scrape - Planning permission - Eclipse services (planning consultant) - IDB (internal drainage board) permit ## **Public Benefit: Future Plans** In the next financial year, the trustees expect to - support an extension of our sensor/telemetry system so that residents can access real time data about flood risk. - continue to inform residents about the work of the group and flood related issues through the village fete, website, bulletins and public meetings. - Continue to support the work of volunteers maintaining the banks and bed of Alconbury Brook. - Bid for funding to build additional flood water storage facilities - Work with other partners, for example the Wildlife Trust to manage on their behalf the refurbishment of derelict ponds. - Work with farmers to increase the porosity of our clay soil through adopting deep rooted Countryside Stewardship seed mixes - Undertake experiments to improve soil porosity, organise events for farmers, landowners and others interested in the outcome of these experiments and its potential reduction in flood risk. - Work with Rothamsted Research on a citizen science project to discover the provenance of sediment in the brook. (sediment accumulation significantly adds to flood risk in the villages). Accounts for Auditor - by hand 10.06.2024 D.Hose ## **Alconbury Brook Flood Group Incomings** |**Alconbury Brook Flood Group**
**Incomings**|| |---|---| |**2203/24**
**Date**
**Detail**
4-Jan-23
Alconbury Weston P.C.
27-Feb-23
Environment Agency
27-Mar-23
Donation - Jonathan Djanogly
4-Oct-23
Just Giving Donation
12-Oct-23
Anglian Water
30-Oct-23
Just Giving Donation
9-Nov-23
Alconbury Weston P.C.
6-Dec-23
Alconbury P.C.
4-Jan-24
Wind Farm Charity|**Amount**
50.00
1000.00
250.00
19.42
100000.00
3.52
500.00
500.00
4250.00| ||106572.94| |**Alconbury Brook Flood Group**
**Outgoings**
**2022/23**
**Date**
**Details**
23-Feb-23
Eclipse Planning Services (Archeology)
12-Jan-23
Sensor Project Prototyping Equipment
7-Mar-23
Plan TQRQM23066222425655
10-Mar-23
Planning Application PP-12003235v1
13-Mar-23
Boat Licence
27-Mar-23
Common Beech Tree plus Equipment
11-Apr-23
Land Drainage Consent
20-Apr-23
Rounding ; Cheque No 100028
1-Jun-23
Sensor Project Prototyping Equipment
1-Jun-23
Miscellanous Volunteers BBQ
30-Jun-23
HJD Plant Solutions Ltd (Groundworks)
13-Sep-23
Environment Agency Permit
30-Sep-23
Grass Seeds Trial
30-Sep-23
QIAGEN Ltd (DNA)
30-Sep-23
Drone
4-Oct-23
Grass Seeds Trial
30-Nov-23
Allotment Plot for Trials
11-Dec-23
Other re: Cheque No 100038
3-Jan-24
CCC Archeological Evaluation Brief|**Amount**
180.00
45.16
13.20
128.20
47.70
44.95
50.00
0.05
153.60
127.38
6600.00
170.00
27.91
238.52
115.48
28.71
57.00
7.57
624.00| |---|---| ||8659.43| ## **Alconbury Brook Flood Group Hall Bookings** |**2023/24**
**Date**
15-Mar-23
19-Apr-23
24-May-23
7-Jun-23
12-Jul-23
27-Sep-23
8-Nov-23
6-Dec-23
10-Jan-24|**Amount**
9.00
9.00
15.00
9.00
9.00
9.00
14.00
14.00
14.00| |---|---| ||102.00| ## **Alconbury Flood Group** ## **Totals** |**Alconbury Flood Group**
**Totals**|| |---|---| |2023/24
Incomings
2023/24
Outgoings
2023/24
Hall Bookings
Total
2023
In year net Surplus|106572.94
8659.43
102.00| ||8761.43| ||97811.51| ## **Alconbury Flood Group Incomings** |2023/24
**Date**
**Detail**
04-Jan-23
Alconbury Weston P.C.
15-Mar-23
Environment Agency
27-Mar-23
Donation - Jonathan Djanogly
30-Oct-23
Just Giving Donation
29-Nov-23
Alconbury Weston P.C.
30-Nov-23
Anglian Water
04-Dec-23
Just Giving Donation
06-Dec-23
Alconbury P.C.
29-Dec-24
Wind Farm Charity
**2023 Bank Reconciliation:**
Opening bank balance (1.1.23)
Bank account balance per statement
less chq 100017 in 2022 accounts, cleared on 31.1.23
Reconciled opening bank balance
Plus in yeat surplus, as above
Closing bank balance (31.12.23)
Closing bank account balance per statement (31.12.23)
less chq 100039 dated 11.12.23, cleared 3.1.24
Reconciled closing bank balance|**Amount**
50.00
1000.00
250.00
3.52
500.00
100000.00
19.42
500.00
4250.00| |---|---| ||106572.94| ||7,066.05
12.00
-| ||7,054.05| ||97,811.51| ||104,865.56| ||105,480.56
624.00
-| ||104,856.56| Peter Oldfield BA (hons) ACMA ## **Alconbury Flood Group Outgoings** |2023/24
**Date**
**Details**
23-Feb-23
Eclipse Plannibg Sevices (Archeology)
12-Jan-23
Sensor Project Protoyping Equipment
07-Mar-23
Plan TQRQM23066222425655
10-Mar-23
Planning Application PP-12003235v1
13-Mar-23
Boat Licence
27-Mar-23
Common Beech Tree plus Equipment
11-Apr-23
Land Drainage Consent
20-Apr-23
rounding : chq number 100028
01-Jun-23
Sensor Project Protoyping Equipment
01-Jun-23
Miscellanous Volunteers BBQ
30-Jun-23
HJD Plant Solutions Ltd (Groundworks)
13-Sep-23
Environment Agency Permit
30-Sep-23
Grass Seeds Trial
30-Sep-23
QIAGEN Ltd (DNA)
30-Sep-23
Drone
04-Oct-23
Grass Seeds Trial
30-Nov-23
Allotment Plot for Trials
11-Dec-23
other re. chq number 100038
03-Jan-24
CCC Archeological Evaluation Brief|**Amount**
180.00
45.16
13.20
128.20
47.70
44.95
50.00
0.05
153.60
127.38
6600.00
170.00
27.91
238.52
115.48
28.71
57.00
7.57
624.00| |---|---| ||8659.43| |**Alconbury Flood Group**
**Hall Bookings**
2023/24
**Date**
15-Mar-23
19-Apr-23
24-May-23
07-Jun-23
12-Jul-23
27-Sep-23
08-Nov-23
06-Dec-23
10-Jan-24
2022/23
**Outgoings**
2022/23
**Hall Bookings**
**Total**|**Amount**
9.00
9.00
15.00
9.00
9.00
9.00
14.00
14.00
14.00| |---|---| ||102.00| ||8659.43
102.00| ||8761.43|