THE ENVIRONMENT Agency has agreed to fund a study to investigate the problems of flooding in South Zeal which will cost in the region of £10,000.

Around 14 properties adjacent to a leat running through the village have been threatened by flooding many times over the years and recently the problem has become worse, said chairman of the South Tawton Flood Defence Group Peter Brotherton.

The group was formed as an offshoot of the parish council and has been successful in getting the authorities and agencies to carry out some flood prevention work already.

Funded by West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council, a considerable amount of stone and shillet has been removed from areas of the stream, shillet traps have been reconstructed and South West Water has fitted a non-return valve to the foul water system serving five properties.

Dartmoor National Park Authority has also worked to reduce surface water run-off from Cosdon, the hill which overlooks South Zeal.

The Environment Agency now intends to carry out a pre-feasibility study to investigate whether or not there are any cost-effective measures that can be undertaken to alleviate all the flooding problems in the village.

Spokesperson Ben Woodhouse said the study was a response to flooding at a number of properties last October but it would not be a quick solution.

'It is the start of a very long process — if we find it is feasible for the Environment Agency to put forward a flood defence scheme the next stage will be how we go about building that defence.'

Mr Woodhouse said it was also likely that other agencies would come into the equation and the study would identify what their responsibilities would be.

'We seem to have made quite a good start in South Zeal with the response of the local authority and others. We appear to be moving in the right direction.'

Mr Brotherton said he was very impressed by the multi-agency approach of everyone working together and he was grateful to the Environment Agency for pushing things forward.

The South Tawton Flood Defence Group is asking people who have been affected by flooding to give information such as time and severity of flooding, types of property and source of flooding, to help the study.

Contact Mr Brotherton on 01837 840685 or Julian Pillar on 01837 840054.