By James HoreA LONG-AWAITED flood defence barrier for a town looks finally set to get the go-ahead after a series of setbacks. The £3.3million scheme has been drawn up by the Environment Agency to prevent a repeat of the flooding in Halstead in October 2001, caused when the River Colne burst its banks.

By James Hore

A LONG-AWAITED flood defence barrier for a town looks finally set to get the go-ahead after a series of setbacks.

The £3.3million scheme has been drawn up by the Environment Agency to prevent a repeat of the flooding in Halstead in October 2001, caused when the River Colne burst its banks.

Halstead currently has no formal flood defences and has been hit by the rising waters of the River Colne a number of times over the past 30 years.

Residents were left disappointed at the end of last year after the scheme was delayed because of a change in Government priorities that knocked it off the list of works for 2004.

But Braintree District Council has been recommended to approve on Tuesday the plan for a new dam and flood reservoir to be located about 500 metres to the north-west of the town.

Nigel Pask, Environment Agency project manager, said the work would not be completed until autumn 2005.

He added: “When this is complete, it will mean that the flooding of the levels of October 2001 and all those floods of recent times will be easily coped with, with capacity to spare.”

It is estimated the scheme will take about eight months to complete and Mr Pask said hundreds of thousands of pounds of preparation work was due to begin in the autumn.

The work includes the construction of a flood storage embankment across the river upstream of Box Mill plantation and the introduction of a defensive barrier at Doe's Corner.

james.hore@eadt.co.uk