The Isle of Wight Community Club in Cowes – more commonly known as the Plessey Club – has big plans for diverting and recycling water at the club. It is hoped that rainwater from the club’s extensive roof – thought to cover about 1,700sqm – can be captured and diverted for other uses, including flushing toilets and watering planters. The club says the plans would help reduce water bills and stop the car park from flooding, while also helping to alleviate pressure on sewers. Members and volunteers from the club recently invited Bob Seely MP and Southern Water to the club to discuss their plans. Bob has said:
“I was delighted to meet with members of the Isle of Wight Community Club to discuss their plans for storing and diverting water away from sewers. They are a great bunch of people looking to make a difference to both their club and the environment. I commend them for their innovative ideas. “There is a lot of work being done by Southern Water off the back of the Environment Bill to invest money into the system and reduce storm overflows and I was pleased to discuss this with club members. “When the Environment Bill was going through, I persuaded Southern Water to make the Island an example of national best practice for reducing storm overflows and cleaning up our environment. “This means the Island has been amongst the first to trial solutions such as water butts and sustainable drainage systems. The work Southern Water is doing can deliver many benefits in both reducing storm overflows and helping the community meet their needs, which is what I discussed last week with the club members. “Southern Water has allocated £230 million to the Island’s sewage network so they are able to deliver 11,000 more water butts, 9,000 sustainable drainage systems, improvements to 550 driveways and 3,100 sustainable roadside rain gardens. “I would encourage all homeowners, schools, businesses and organisations to consider working with Southern Water to look at how they could collect and divert rainwater off their rooves and away from sewers. I thank the Isle of Wight Community Club for getting involved in this scheme and I hope to catch up with them again soon to see how they are getting on with their plans once the building and surrounding area has been properly scoped out.”
Laura Moran from Southern Water adds:
“We were pleased to meet with members of the Isle of Wight Community Club last week to discuss how we could help them with their plans. There is the potential to install storage tanks around the building, large planters and a swale in the car park to reduce flooding. “In Cowes we are already doing lots of work to slow the flow of water entering our sewers. On Market Hill, we’ve installed a new flap valve to reduce tidal infiltration into the pumping station and on Terminus Road we’ve redesigned the chamber so that the water coming in doesn’t overwhelm the system. “Our engineers have also been installing slow-drain water butts in people’s gardens to act as temporary water storage tanks to relieve the pressure on the sewers during heavy rainfall. Alongside this, we’re also installing planters and other sustainable drainage systems such as highways schemes including swales and in-road raingardens, which we’re currently exploring the feasibility of, to help reduce flooding and pollution”.
Southern Water will now scope out the project to see how they can help the club to deliver their plans. Keiron Kirkpatrick, Club Secretary, says:
“We know that we have huge opportunities here at the club to do things differently. “Our building is huge – it houses a huge indoor bowls rink and bar – so we know there is a lot of potential here. “We want to do what we can to keep our bills down while making improvements to our club and the environment. “We are grateful to our MP and Southern Water for meeting with us to discuss how we can take our plans forward and we look forward to seeing what solutions Southern Water come up with”.
Pop up bob is really trying to keep his job isn’t he, give it up bob you’re finished as is your pathetic in fighting tory party.
Actually Bob hasn’t done anything apart from turn up for a photo shoot…..as usual!
He helped them to get their hands on his slow-draining butt. They look quite happy about it. Each to their own I suppose.
Must be why he always wears brown trousers.
There he is Pop Up Bob, the island’s saviour.. and has anyone else noticed the editor likes to write when Pop Up Bob is around .. or is it just a coincidence?
With a roof that big, they need to fill it with solar and start mining BTC. The Dollar will soon not be the global reserve, the markets are already making a lot of use out of the network, most transitions are made by the city. And if the axis of evil get their way and start the ‘apocalyptic war’ they want, BTC will be the only game in town. To the moon!
Another tinfoil helmet has fallen off. Now take your medication, get back in the comfy chair, and watch Antiques Road Trip.
Ah, surely not the same MP that voted in favour of allowing water companies to dump sewage into the sea and our rivers?
Here’s a thought ~ if they did not spend all day in there drinking and using/flushing the toilet then they would not need to do this and there would be no burden on the sewer system in this area.
I do not understand people who are club dwellers and who would quite happily live in one.
Stay at home, and stop burdening the sewers elsewhere.
A very strange comment John. I know you are a sociopath and cannot bear people to enjoy themselves socialising but surely you realise that people will still produce the same amount of sewage irrespective of where they are located in the area, and that their sewage will enter the same sewerage.
I will generalise here ~ if 100 people live in different areas on a large island, their waste water will dissipate evenly using separate drains.
But if they construct a building and all live together under one roof in the centre of the island and all use the same single drain there there will be localised problems which Bob is trying to sort out.
Stay at home, save the drains.
I only post facts here.
Stay at home, stay safe, and don’t do a dump outside your house. Thanks Boris.
Personally, I never do my business outside my home because I can’t stand filthy toilets. I think most people do the same.
If that was the case then the club would not need regular delivery of toilet rolls and cleaning products.
But you have hit upon a good idea, remove the bathrooms from the club.
But not everyone is germ-phobic and not everyone can hold their business from 9am through 11pm, can you imagine playing snooker with a turtle head showing.?
You have a point. It would be difficult potting the black with the brown still clearly visible.
Sounds very much like Peckham Spring