Sandbag provision
The provision of sandbags by local authorities and the Environment Agency will only cover the following areas:
- Environment Agency – prevention of major breaches or overtopping of watercourses.
- Warwickshire County Council – prevention of flooding of the highway and from the highway to adjacent properties.
- Warwick District Council – assessment of flooding to private properties where there is imminent danger to flooding and a threat to life. There are also rules for commercial premises.
- Warwickshire Fire and Rescue – holds a small stock of sandbags for use in cases where there is an urgent and imminent threat to either life or property.
Requests for sandbags from members of the public will only be considered when occupied residential properties are in imminent danger of flooding. Sandbags will not be provided for protecting gardens, outbuildings or other structures.
Requests should be made by filling in our Engineering Services Request Form. Alternatively, you can call 01926 456 343 .
Please note that these requests may be subject to risk assessment, to assess the priority of need and the risk associated with flooding. Sandbags will be provided free of charge during flooding emergencies, subject to the availability of resources.
Commercial premises are normally responsible for carrying out their own risk assessments for flooding and for ordering their own supplies of sandbags. In exceptional circumstances, sandbags may be provided by local authorities, but this would be a local decision and should not be allowed to be used as a precedent.
Parish Councils have a small supply of filled and unfilled sandbags to help their communities who are at the risk of flooding. The Parish Council is responsible for the storage, maintenance and delivery or collection of their stocks within the parish.
Delivery of sandbags
Subject to an assessment of need, local authorities will, whenever and wherever possible, deliver sandbags to persons with justified requests for them. Where sandbags are provided, they become the absolute responsibility of the person or council receiving them. A local authority will accept no liability for positioning them or any subsequent repositioning, nor will local authorities be responsible for collecting and disposing of sandbags after the flooding.
Where to purchase sandbags
If you require sandbags to protect your premises, you can contact a building supplier listed in the Yellow Pages. Sandbags can be purchased from most local builders merchants, however, please be aware that some builders merchants consider sandbags a seasonal item and they may not always be available.
You may wish to consider purchasing self-absorbent bags such as these from Aqua-Sacs that require less storage space than traditional filled sand bags.
Sandbags during non-emergency times
The District Council can also provide sandbags during non-emergency times but will make a charge for the supply and delivery. The charges for this service are listed as below:
| Description |
Charge at September 2007 |
| Filled and Delivered |
£8.00 each (order minimum of 10) |
| Empty and Delivered |
£1.30 each (order minimum of 10) plus £10 delivery |
| Filled and Collected |
£8.00 each |
| Empty and Collected |
£2.50 each |
Additional information
As an alternative to sandbags, plastic bags or similar can be filled with sand or earth and used effectively to protect against floodwater.
Back to Floods page
|