Nineteen volunteers from the Syston Community Flood Group manually extracted over two tonnes of hardened silt from Syston Brook during low summer water levels to prevent repeating the devastating winter floods of January 2024 and 2025. The Environment Agency hauled away the compacted sediment, while Charnwood Borough Council collected cleared vegetation for composting.
Syston Community Flood Group Tackles Compounded Silt
Refusing to wait passively for the return of severe winter storms, a coalition of grassroots volunteers in Leicestershire took direct action during critically low summer water levels to defend their community’s infrastructure.
Over the years, agricultural runoff and urban debris settled into the waterway, creating an absolutely solid
mass of silt that raised baseline water levels and choked drainage capacity. Working with shovels, the volunteers broke up an estimated two to three tonnes of hardened sediment, which the Environment Agency subsequently removed for safe disposal.
“It was a lot of hard work but we had fun, it was great.”
Janette Hick, Volunteer
The Trauma of Repeated Winter Inundations in Syston
For residents and business owners along the brook, flooding remains a recurring psychological and financial threat. The town suffered widespread, destructive inundations in January 2024 and again in 2025, when sudden deluges overwhelmed choked drainage networks and pushed toxic floodwaters into local living rooms and retail floors.
Attempting to clear the channel during the wet winter season remains dangerously ineffective. The dry summer window provided the only safe window to reach the concrete riverbed, particularly after upstream obstacles delayed maintenance efforts from the previous year. It was one of those jobs we’d have liked to have got done last year, but there was more water and a lot more stuff upstream that needed to be shifted first,
Hick explained.
Support From the Environment Agency and Local Government
While grassroots labor drove the day of action, local authorities stepped in to handle the extracted waste and coordinate future safety measures. A spokesperson for the Environment Agency confirmed that officials removed 380 tonnes of silt from the brook in early 2025 and intend to return later in the year to complete additional engineering works.
In addition to the sub-surface silt extraction, volunteers cleared vegetation from the water’s edge to prevent loose branches from blocking downstream grates. Twenty brown bins filled with garden debris and shrubbery were handed over to Charnwood Borough Council for composting.
Preparation Before the Next Deluge Arrives
With winter fronts anticipated later in the year, organizers are urging residents to remain vigilant and maintain their own private drainage systems during the dry months.
We need people to not be complacent. Mother Nature won’t go away,
Hick said, advising neighbors to check neighborhood gullies, clear autumn leaves, and invest in property-level defenses such as sandbags, tarpaulins, and flood barriers. If you just think we got away with it this year, we’ll probably get away with it again – that’s not the case. If the deluge comes down, we could be caught out.