WELSH Water is investing £3.7m in a scheme to combat flooding in Cardigan – but town councillors are keen to take more practical steps to help beleaguered residents in the short term.

A new sewer pipe, pumping station and kiosk at Morgan Street will look to reduce the risk of flooding that has affected many properties in the Gloster Row/St Mary Street/Church Street area of the town.

A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “We are planning to invest £3.7 million to reduce the risk of sewer flooding in Cardigan town.

“This work, subject to approval, will involve installing a new sewer pipe, pumping station, kiosk and overflow. We hope this work will begin later in 2021 and expect it to take around 10 months to complete.

“As we finalise the details of our work, we are planning to host a virtual public information event for the local community in the coming months to give Cardigan residents the chance to find out more about the proposed project.”

The scheme is currently waiting approval from Ceredigion County Council planners and while it has been warmly welcomed by Cardigan Town Council, councillors are also actively taking other steps to try to minimise the risk of tidal flooding.

Cllr Catrin Miles said: “Welsh Water is putting in the application to support the pumping station at Gloster Row which is not enough to do the job itself.

“It’s very much a case of the sooner the better we get more work done by National Resources Wales and Welsh Water in the area.”

Natural Resources Wales is currently looking at a major flood defence scheme to help protect Cardigan from tidal flooding but that has been on the table for years and there is still no funding in place or date yet set for works to begin.

With that in mind, the town council is now looking to place large sandbags at the top of the Gloster Row slipway in a bid to prevent flooding during high tides.

“The Mayor and I have had meetings with local residents, Ben Lake (Ceredigion MP) and MS Elin Jones to see what can be done in the short term,” said Cllr Miles.

“The idea is to have one tonne sandbags which are about a metre high placed at the top of the slipway which would be enough to block it off at high tide. It would cost around £300, which is not an enormous amount.

“This is NRW’s responsibility really, with the area part of a long-term project but there is no sign of anything happening very soon.

“The next high tides are from January 13-17 and we should put pressure on NRW to do this in the short term but time is not on our side.”

Cllr John Adams-Lewis supported the idea but also suggested a wall being built at the top of the slipway, with people who used it able to access alternative slipways.

Cllr Graham Evans said: “If it’s going to cost £300 then I think we should do it whether NRW pays or not to save the worry for the residents.”

Councillors agreed to foot the bill to get the bags in place if NRW refused to pay.