BEWDLEY’S flood defences will be tested out next week to ensure the town is prepared if they need to be called upon.

The Environment Agency, along with firefighters, Bewdley Town Council and other partners will be running an exercise to test out the deployment of the temporary barriers and the local community flood plan.

They will be at Millside Court on Thursday, November 16 from 9am until around 1pm.

The exercise will enable them to test barrier deployment to ensure they can be safely erected when needed while causing minimum disruption to people in the town.

Staff will also be trained and working arrangements with partners and the local Community Flood Group checked.

A section of road and pathway between Millside Court to where it joins with Kidderminster Road, via Stourport Road, will be closed during the exercise. Access to Bewdley Bridge will remain open through Kidderminster Road.

Mark Bowers, Flood Risk Manager said: “This is a test of our operational equipment and local community flood plan. Although we have carried out numerous barrier deployment exercises at our training depots, doing it on location will give our field team invaluable experience.”

“It’s important to remember that we can never protect 100 per cent against flooding, and we can’t guarantee that specific communities will always have access to temporary barriers.

“Local residents and businesses should be prepared by checking their flood risk, signing up to flood warnings and finding out what they can do to protect themselves and their property by visiting the Prepare for Flooding page on GOV.UK or calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188.”

Nick Farress, Bewdley Town Council Clerk, added: “This will be a vital practice run to test our new community led flood plan which has been developed to support the Environment Agency in retaining the temporary barrier at Beale’s Corner.

“The Town Council are very grateful to our band of volunteers who have put themselves forward to help with this vital work.”

Wyre Forest Station Commander Daryl Justice said: “Our involvement with the Bewdley Flood Barrier response is new arrangement that will see our Firefighters add even more value to the Wyre Forest community.

“When flooding is predicted our on-call firefighters will be given a period of notice which will minimise the impact on their primary employment and, although deployed under the direction of the Environment Agency, they will remain available for life threatening emergencies.

“This is one of the first initiatives of its type in the UK and is a great example of how fire crews can add value in other areas.”