COMMUNITY groups from across Romsey hit by floods met with environment chiefs to find out how a multi-million flood defence programme was developing.

Nearly two years after people from a range of neighbourhoods saw their homes and businesses under water in storms were invited to the meeting Romsey Town Hall.

Held at a time when flood warnings were issued for rivers in the Test Valley as storms wreaked havoc across the country, community groups were reassured that they “had not been forgotten”.

Representatives from the Environment Agency, Hampshire County Council and Test Valley Borough Council met the groups who were informed about how work was progressing on flooding defences in the town.

It was a chance for people to get updates on the bidding process for flooding projects and to hear what is happening with a £3.5 million project called the “catflap”.

Environment chiefs hope to make this temporary structure – which was built from sandbags and scaffold poles on the River Test at Greatbridge in 2014 by the military personnel and the EA – a permanent one which can be closed when the town is at risk of flooding.

The catflap was used to slow the flow of water and push it out onto the floodplain north of Romsey.

Chairman of the group, Romsey town councillor Ian Richards, said: “With the recent adverse weather in the north of the country it was opportune that the group met at Romsey Town Hall [...] to hear that the promised projects to protect Romsey from flooding had not been forgotten in the last two years.”

He added: “We were reassured to hear the agencies and councils were working together when considering projects as to their effect on flooding plans, such as the improvement of certain footpaths to incorporate a flooding bund in the design; the work on the Fishlake Meadows reserve taking into account the potential benefits for water management; and the Riverside restoration community action group with assistance and advice from the agencies.

“We were updated on the progress of the bid for works to the river network around Romsey and in support of the bid for the monies allocated representatives from the community groups and landowners were nominated to take part in the steering group to ensure the community involvement.”

The Greatbridge area was worst affected and almost cut off from the rest of the town when the main Romsey to Stockbridge road was closed for several weeks because it was submerged in more than two feet of water.

Meanwhile the businesses on the Budds Lane Trading Estate lost hundreds of thousands of pounds.