The Environment Agency has started ground investigations in Tadcaster to help develop a flood defence scheme to better protect homes from the risk of flooding.
The investigation work is an important milestone of the project to build a new flood defence scheme for the town.
Environment Agency contractors are drilling boreholes along the river using specialist equipment so that the project team can understand the composition of the ground where new flood defence walls are being proposed. This will ensure that the defences that are constructed are to the right standard.
Work is also being done to strengthen and improve the current defences at four locations to help prevent localised early ‘overtopping’ of water over the flood banks during a flood. Although this would not prevent defences being overwhelmed during a large scale flooding event like that seen in February, the Agency said it will improve the resilience of the defences in these locations ahead of the delivery of the wider flood scheme for the town.
Paul Stockhill, area flood risk manager at the Environment Agency commented:
“This is an important step so we can gain detailed evidence to support the design of flood defences to better protect Tadcaster from flooding.
“The town has experienced devastating floods as recently as February this year, and we are working as fast as we can to develop a scheme which offers the best possible level of flood protection for people and is able to withstand the increasingly extreme weather we are experiencing as a result of climate change.”
The next step will be to use the information gathered to form some detailed designs.
Nigel Adams MP for Selby and Ainsty said:
“The flooding earlier this year showed how vital it is that the flood defences in Tadcaster are improved. This was discussed in a meeting earlier this year with the Flood Minister, Rebecca Pow and I am pleased that work has now started on-site. It is especially pleasing that one of the early tasks will be to address the four locations where the flood water first came over the top of the defences earlier this year. The ground investigations will then provide the information required to design the new £11m flood alleviation scheme for the town.”
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