The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme has secured a further £3.8 million to help reduce the risk of flooding in the city centre by increasing the current standard of protection to phase 1 of the scheme.
This will now see an increase from the original 1 in 75 year standard of protection to 1 in 100 years with an allowance for climate change up to 2069.
Costing in the region of £50 million, the scheme, which is being led by Leeds City Council in partnership with the Environment Agency, has been given additional funding support. This has come from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Investment Committee on behalf of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to offer greater flood protection through enhancing existing defences, implementing measures to reduce the risk of surface water flooding, and increasing resilience and emergency response systems.
Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake said:
“This additional support from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the LEP to enhance flood protection and resilience measures in the city centre is also very welcome as we continue to work towards securing the comprehensive measures we need to put in place across Leeds as soon as possible.”
Adrian Gill, area flood risk manager at the Environment Agency said the additional funding from the LEP was a result of very close partnership working and in recognition of the economic importance of reducing flood risk to protect jobs and support growth.
The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme is being developed through a partnership between Leeds City Council and the Environment Agency and is split into two phases. While Phase 1 focuses on work in the city centre, Phase 2 of the scheme will adopt a catchment-wide approach which means the entire River Aire catchment area will be considered looking at combining natural flood management measures and engineered options. This could include options such as creating storage in the upper catchment, building woody debris dams to slow the flow and looking at land use and drainage. Engineered options could include raising and building walls and embankments, flood storage areas and bypass channels.
Preparatory planning on the second phase of the scheme is already underway after the Environment Agency and Leeds City Council recently awarded a contract for design and feasibility work to BMMjv (a joint venture between BAM Nuttall and Mott McDonald with support from Arup and Thomas McKay).
The primary aim of the second phase is to reduce the risk of flooding from the River Aire in Leeds including the areas of Kirkstall and Stourton.
Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP, said:
“The floods that hit Leeds City Region last winter had a big impact on our local communities and inflicted major damage to some business operations. Almost a year on and we have been working with local partners and national government to ensure measures are put in place to support those worst affected and mitigate damage in the future.”
“I am delighted the LEP and Combined Authority have committed this additional funding to continue the vital flood alleviation activity in the region. We continue to stress the importance of investment in green infrastructure and flood alleviation measures to government to ensure we secure further long-term investment for our businesses and residents.”
As part of both Leeds City Council and the Environment Agency’s commitment to partnership working, an Upper Aire Catchment Network was launched in early November. The network will ensure that the options are developed with the very best information and most current thinking from across a range of sectors, interested stakeholders and potential delivery partners.
A public flood information centre has also been opened in the Kirkstall area of Leeds to provide flood information and advice to homeowners and businesses at risk of flooding.
The Team Kirkstall Regeneration Hub, at 352-354 Kirkstall Road, has been set up by Phil Marken of Open Source Arts Ltd and Kirkstall Regen Ltd, the Environment Agency, Leeds City Council and BAM Nuttall, who are working in partnership to deliver a flood alleviation scheme for the city.
The centre, which was officially opened on Monday 12 December, is intended to act as a focal point for residents and businesses in Kirkstall, giving them easy access to information on the flood scheme, flood resilience advice and providing an opportunity for them to share their local knowledge and aspirations for the area to help shape the future scheme.
Rosa Foster, upper Aire catchment director at the Environment Agency, said:
“Last Christmas many businesses and residents in the Kirkstall area and other parts of the city centre were severely affected by the floods after record river levels on the Aire.”
“We are very keen to hear about and learn from those experiences, and to understand what their future aspirations are. We want the Leeds flood alleviation scheme to be the best in the country – supporting and enabling as many other additional benefits as possible by doing things differently from the start.”
On 26 December 2015, Leeds experienced significant and widespread flooding with some of the highest river levels ever recorded. The flooding affected more than 2,000 residential properties and nearly 600 businesses.
Waterbriefing is media partner with the Environment Agency’s major three-day conference and exhibition Flood and Coast 2017 which takes place from 28 to 30 March 2017 in Telford. Click here for more information
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