THE bank of a town centre brook is still awaiting repair nearly two years after it collapsed.

Tilmore Brook banks were badly damaged during the winter storms of 2000 and a collapse in Herne Farm remains unrepaired although replacement of the brook boundary wall and work on the changing rooms at Petersfield Open Air Swimming Pool will go ahead in October.

A section of the bank on the north side between Crundles and Holt Down collapsed in early November 2000 and has remained fenced off ever since.

East Hampshire District Council is responsible for the northern bank and householders for the southern side.

Roger Burton, EHDCÕs works manager in the environment and sustainability department, said that the Environment Agency considered the site sensitive from a conservation and environmental point of view. The brook is home to a rare form of crayfish.

The agency has to approve the repair proposals and there are restrictions on the materials used. For example, cement is not used as it might have an adverse effect on the water quality. The agency also requires the work to be carried out between October and March.

ÒConsultants are currently carrying out hydraulic modelling of normal conditions and flood conditions in the Tilmore Brook,Ó said Mr Burton. ÒThis will ensure that what is proposed is satisfactory.

ÒA report will be produced in about a monthÕs time and then the scheme will be formally submitted to the Agency for approval.

ÒIf approved the scheme will go to EHDCÕs Cabinet to approve the expenditure and then it will go out to tender. But money has already been set aside for it.

ÒIt is likely to be into next year before the work is actually done. The earliest opportunity would probably be late spring 2003 subject to Environment Agency approval,Ó added Mr Burton.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: ÒWe want to make a permanent repair to the banks of the Tilmore Brook so that if, in the future, we get extemely high flows in the water course, the banks will remain intact.

ÒTenders for the repair of the swimming pool wall and the changing rooms are being returned at the moment and it is anticipated that work will begin in early October.

ÒWe are in the early stages of advising on the conservation and flood flow capacity of the brook. EHDC are working with a team of consultants to come to an environmentally sustainable solution for the Tilmore Brook which is likely to involve raising the bed.

Ò But it needs to be carefully assessed to ensure that this does not compromise flood flow capacity.Ó

ÒWe are keeping Herne Farm residents informedÓ said Mr Burton.

ÒWhen the scheme is finalised the council will talk in more detail to the residents who are responsible for the other side of the brook. They will be invited to join the scheme so that it can be done cost effectively.

ÒIt is hoped that once approval is given by the Environment Agency the scheme will be completed quickly and in a way that will protect the sensitive nature of the brookÕs environment.Ó

Group secretary for Herne Farm Neighbourhood Watch, Geoffrey Eyre, told The Herald: ÒThrough Neighbourhood Watch we have been lobbying EHDC about the state of the bank since the problems began in November 2000.

ÒWe are concerned both with the safety aspects and the understandable concerns of residents on the Herne Farm Estate. Progress has been frustratingly slow but we hope that the Environment Agency will allow work to go ahead during a period when the water flows are at a reasonably low level.