A VILLAGE hit by flooding earlier this year is taking steps to prevent a repeat this winter, but raising fears that problems could be passed downstream.

The A272 at Bramdean, near Alresford, was closed for around a month in February in the worst floods for decades.

A meeting last night heard that ditches are being cleared for the first time in 30-40 years and the county council is putting in bigger pipes to increase capacity, to be completed before Christmas.

But a villager from Cheriton is worried that moving water more quickly through Bramdean will cause them bigger problems.

Pat Lawrence, Cheriton flood warden told the Chronicle: “Our main concern is that if the capacity is increased upstream at Bramdean that will affect us. If we have a wet autumn we could have problems.

“The county council recognise the problem and we hope they will rectify it. At the moment they are not doing it.”

Mr Lawrence wants the county to alter the three bridges in Cheriton to reduce the way they act as dams, holding back water to cause flooding, as happened in 2000-01 and this year.

Matthew Morton, chairman of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner Parish Council, said local ditch owners had readily helped. “They have done it themselves and not waited for assistance. I have been very impressed. I was expecting a bit of a battle.”

Mr Morton, a local farmer, said Bramdean and Cheriton should solve the problem together. “We don't want to cause them problems downstream.

“I think there is an opportunity to hold the water back before Cheriton in the water meadow. It is called Hinton Marsh. The clue is in the name.”

A sluice could be fitted and it could hold a lot of water, he said.

Richard Sykes, county highways engineer, said the ideal was to get the water through the two villages as quickly as possible.

Pippa Stephenson, chairman of the local flood action group, said she hoped to tap into people’s local knowledge. “We need to know about culverts, a broken drain, ditches that flood."

The information could be passed to the county council and Environment Agency, she said.

The meeting in the village hall was attended by some 30 people including Meon Valley MP George Hollingbery, county councillor Roger Huxstep and city councillor harry Verney.