Call to community to vote for project to help reduce flood risk for residents in part of Gorleston

The Great Yarmouth Allotment and Community Water Garden Project could get a £4,000 boost from Tesco's Bags of Help initiative - but only if shoppers give it the most "votes" using the blue tokens that are available at the tills.

Last year, gardens and outbuildings in Burgh Road were flooded from water that backed up in an adjacent drainage dyke following heavy snow and rain. This is one of the lowest areas in Gorelston, and the network of dykes and culverts are held in multiple ownerships.

In order to resolve this complex issue for the community, Great Yarmouth Borough Council brought together the various interested parties, including the Internal Drainage Board, Norfolk County Council, Water Management Alliance and Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Allotment Association.

While clearance work in dykes and culverts has now been completed in order to alleviate the immediate issue for residents, the partners are seeking to secure funding for a longer-term, more sustainable solution to improving drainage in this low-lying area. This project involves the creation of a sustainable urban drainage feature in the form of a pond or small lake on the Allotment Association's land.

With match-funding from the borough and county councils, the allotment association has successfully bid for £5,000 from the Water, Mills and Marshes community grants scheme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and managed by the Broads Authority.

Project partners are now calling on the community to help secure the remaining funds needed, with people asked to vote for the Allotment Association's project during March and April at the Tesco stores in Great Yarmouth, Caister-on-Sea, Belton and Bradwell.

This collaborative work has come about through the active involvement of Cllr Carl Smith, chairman of the borough council's environment committee and county councillor, Cllr Marlene Fairhead, St Andrews ward councillor and Waveney, Lower Yare and Lothingland Internal Drainage Board Member, and Cllr Bernard Williamson, Clayon ward councillor.

In a joint statement, they said: "With clearance work now complete to alleviate the immediate issue for residents, the planned Allotment and Community Water Garden Project offers a more sustainable, longer-term approach to improving land drainage and water flows.

"We would like to thank the Broads Authority for the funding and now ask the whole community to make sure they use their blue Tesco tokens to help secure the remaining funding for this important project, which will make a huge difference for the neighbourhood."

Dale Miller, general secretary of the allotment association, said: "The Allotment and Community Water Garden will transform an area of unusable land into a wildlife haven that will be open to local schools, as well as providing an area to hold the water and improve flows in the longer term.

"With the fantastic support of the authorities involved, we have secured some of the funded needed already, and we now need the assistance of the whole community to make this exciting scheme a reality by voting for it with their blue tokens at the local Tesco stores."

Will Burchnall, programme manager for Water, Mills and Marshes, said "We are very pleased to be able to fund this excellent project. The partners involved have worked together to create a scheme which will help reduce local flooding whilst creating a new space for nature and a place for the local community to enjoy."