A SCHEME to prevent further flooding problems at King’s Somborne is under way.

Environment Agency bosses are behind the £60,000 project to improve the flow of the Borne Stream which runs through the village.

The work is expected to last a couple of weeks and last week Romsey and Southampton North MP Caroline Nokes joined officials at the water’s edge to watch a digger clearing silt and other obstructions from the stream’s bed alongside Winchester Road.

King’s Somborne sufered in the winter floods of 2014.

Operations manager with the Environment Agency John O’Flynn explained: “The stream is fed by groundwater and levels were very high. At the moment levels are nowhere as bad as they were last year when lots of properties were flooded in the village.

“A couple of months ago we carried out a survey of watercourses in the area and identified where work was needed.

“Small humps of gravel built up in the watercourse and we are now removing them and carrying out levelling work. Water is more likely to stay in the channel once this is done and reduce the flooding risk. It will make a big difference.”

Contractors Land and Water are carrying out the work for the EA.

Welcoming the work, the area’s MP Caroline Nokes said: “We all remember how badly King’s Somborne was affected at this time last year by flooding. After a big flood it is important to re-grade the stream and make sure the flow is even. It’s a beautiful stream but unfortunately it’s a huge problem to local residents when it overflows.

“I’ve been chatting to residents in the village about the work which I am pleased to see is being done. The Environment Agency is certainly getting on with the work here.”

One of the properties flooded last year was village pub, the Crown Inn, which was closed for 14 weeks after groundwater seeped up into the centuries-old thatched building in Romsey Road.

Landlady Judith Evans, a member of the village’s Flood Action Group, said she and other villagers welcomed the work being done by the Environment Agency on the Borne and by Southern Water on improving the sewage system in the village.

“It’s a multi-agency approach. We are grateful to landowners in the village who agreed to have debris from the Borne Stream deposed of safely on their land. It’s all about working together,” she told the Advertiser.