Residents in Swindon affected by the recent flooding have been urged to give their experiences to the council.

Swindon Borough Council is conducting a legally required 'section 19' investigation after parts of the town were affected four times over the past six weeks.

When published, the report should identify the cause of the flooding, and suggest solutions to prevent it from happening again.

The council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Councillor Chris Watts, and the officer in charge of strategic transport and infrastructure, Jon Harris, faced questions from members of the authority’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee about the recent flooding and the strategic flood risk.

Mr Harris said the council needed as much feedback and information about what happened in affected areas as possible.

He said: "It’s very important to understand what’s happened recently. If anyone who has been affected by any of the last four events has feedback, has information, we’d like to have that as soon as possible.

“It will take about nine months for all the data that people have reported to us comes through to the same place.”

Mr Harris said past weeks have been classified as being between a one in 75 years to a one in 125 years flooding event - and should be a rarity. He added: “Anything we can get which will give us a complete picture will be helpful.”

Mr Harris and Cllr Watts said one significant improvement in recent weeks had been the re-establishing of regular contact with both Thames Water and the Environment Agency.

Mr Harris said: “There was a strategic meeting focussed on the wider Thames basin that took place but stopped in 2018 and then Covid intervened.

“We have recently re-established that relationship. And it’s actually an improvement – the last meeting wasn’t particularly focused on Swindon; it was the wider Thames catchment – but now our quarterly meetings are about Swindon.”

Chairman of the scrutiny committee Councillor Dale Heenan asked: “Do we know more on who is responsible for what? If there’s another incident who is responsible?"

Mr Harris said: “That’s why re-establishing the relationship with Thames Water and the Environment Agency is so important.”