Volunteers clear brook to reduce flood risk
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- Syston Community Flood Group deployed 19 volunteers in wellies to shovel an estimated two to three tonnes of "absolutely solid" silt from the concrete-bottomed Syston Brook, with the Environment Agency hauling away the cleared material.
- Homes and businesses in Syston suffered devastating winter floods in January 2024 and again in January 2025, the back-to-back events that prompted the community to act before the next wet season.
- Volunteer Janette Hick urged residents to clean their gullies and drains in autumn and to consider flood barriers, sandbags, and tarpaulins, warning "Mother Nature won't go away" and that complacency would leave them "caught out" if a deluge returned.
- The Environment Agency said it had already removed 380 tonnes of silt from Syston Brook in early 2025, routinely inspects the channel for blockages, and plans to return later this year to complete further works.
- Volunteers also cleared vegetation that could have ended up in the water, filling 20 brown bins that were passed to Charnwood Borough Council for composting.
- Charnwood Borough Council said it was "happy to support this valuable community work in Syston" and congratulated those involved.
Why it matters: For Syston residents still recovering from January floods in both 2024 and 2025, the volunteer effort combines with the Environment Agency's prior removal of 380 tonnes of silt and its planned later-2025 return to chip away at a recurring flood threat. Hick's warning makes clear the physical clearing is only one layer — residents must also maintain drains and stockpile barriers, or the next heavy rainfall could repeat the damage.
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