Water firm gets approval for permanent detention at Mansfield school to help the environment

However, this has nothing to do with keeping pupils behind after school as punishment.

Severn Trent Water submitted plans to Mansfield District Council for a water dentention basin, associated landscape bunds and extension of internal access road on land south east of Samworth Church Academy on Sherwood Hall Road, Mansfield.

A detention basin manages stormwater run-off by storing it and releasing it gradually until completed drained.

It is designed in this way to help reduce the risk of flooding in an area.

In a planning statement, Severn Trent said the plans were part of its £76 million investment in the wider Green Recovery Scheme for the Mansfield area which overall aims to reduce flood risk for up to 90,000 people.

Severn Trent said: “The proposed detention basin at Samworth is designed to provide temporary storage of stormwater, removing surface water that would be draining into the sewerage network in the Mansfield area, which becomes inundated during storm events.

"The proposed works involved rerouting the Severn Trent drainage system in Linnet Drive and laying a new surface sewer drainage network around Abbey Road and Villiers Road and routing this to detention basin within the grounds of Samworth.”

The statement concluded: “The development, in combination with other Green Recovery schemes in the Mansfield area, is required to reduce flood resilience whilst also providing environmental benefit to the River Maun through reducing storm overflow activations into local watercourses.”