York Flood Alleviation Scheme
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Update for
January’s Executive Decision Session
This is an update of the progress made over the last five months on the flood alleviation work in York, as well as providing information on the current status of our work and expected timelines for delivering the remaining work. In this update we have provided:
1. Summary of city wide flood alleviation activities
2. Next steps
3. Programme information table
4. Map of the York Five Year Plan flood cell outlines
1. Summary of city wide flood alleviation activities
Engagement activity
From July to December 2020, we continued to carry out a mix of virtual and in-person engagement. Since our last update, we have:
· Hosted six online public meetings for five flood cells, with over 125 attendees in total, and over 150 questions submitted by the public and answered by our team;
· Prepared and shared 21 newsletters, either city-wide or to specific flood cells, to a combined mailing list of almost 1,500 recipients;
· Hosted a two-day, Property Flood Resilience (PFR) demonstration day which was attended by 22 members of the public with Covid-19 compliant procedures in place;
· Hosted three York FAS Advisory Group meetings; and
· Continued to share regular updates via our social media pages and our webpage, which received approximately 1,500 views in the second-half of 2020.
In addition, we receive and respond to correspondence on a daily basis via our York Flood Plan email account. However, our engagement hub remains closed to the public due to Covid-19.
Flood Cells Update
Foss Storage Area
Our planning application was unanimously approved by CYC on 19 November 2020. The new flood storage area will better protect 490 vulnerable homes between Strensall and The Groves area of York from flooding. This scheme, in the rural area 2km north of Strensall, will also reduce flood risk to key transport routes and result in benefits to the environment including tree planting, wetland creation and improvements to river bank habitat.
Foss Barrier
Work is ongoing to complete electronic works at the Pumping Station, the raising of the flood wall and the barrier structure, with the intention that the new flood gate will be installed in early January. The gate and pumping station have and will continue to remain operational during all the improvement work. The installation will, however, be weather dependent. Training and preparation for handover is underway.
Scarborough Bridge to Ouse Bridge right bank (B4)
We have completed the majority of work in this flood cell to better protect 39 properties from flooding. We have increased the height of the flood wall and gates along North Street, built a new flood wall between Leeman Road and the Memorial Gardens and installed demountable panels across the entrances to the Gardens. We have also conducted an exercise to test the deployment of the new demountable gate. We plan to install a new flood gate under Lendal Bridge between the Easter and Summer school holidays next year, to minimise the impact of the necessary road closure on the community.
Coppins Farm to Scarborough Bridge (B11)
Despite the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions and the early-November flooding on our construction schedules, we have completed the majority of work on increasing the height of the flood defences in this flood cell. We have extended and increased the height of the flood embankment in St Peters School fields, built a transition wall between the embankment and the end of Almery Terrace, and installed glass panels and new gates at Almery Terrace. Next Spring, we will install a short flood gate on top of the Almery steps, and work on the Network Rail embankment to ensure it is flood proof.
Clementhorpe (B8)
This flood defence scheme runs from Skeldergate Bridge to Rowntree Park, has an estimated cost of £7.7 million and will better protect 135 properties from flooding. City of York Council granted planning permission on 11th June and we are working with them to discharge any planning conditions. We are aiming to begin construction early in 2021the New Year.
Bishopthorpe (C1)
This scheme will provide a continuous line of defence and a high standard of protection against flooding - directly benefiting 117 properties, at an estimated cost of £2.5m. The scheme will include the construction of a 170m wall, with 6m deep piling underneath, a flood gate across the bottom of Chantry Lane, and a new manhole chamber with a penstock mechanism. City of York Council granted planning permission on 17 August 2020. A public event was held on 4 November 2020 to update the community on the scheme. We are currently focussed on preparing the information required to discharge the planning conditions and are aiming to begin construction early in the New Year.
Clifton and Rawcliffe (B10)
This scheme involves raising the height of the Clifton Ings Barrier Bank and extending it at both ends to reduce flood risk for 140 properties in York. Following approval of our planning application in 2019, the focus has been on discharging the planning conditions. Whilst progressing with these, we have continued to develop detailed designs for the scheme and also negotiate with our contractor to agree a contract for the work. Subject to reaching agreement on this, work will start on the site in the first half of 2021.
Scarborough Bridge to Lendal Bridge (Museum Gardens) B12
Our planning application to increase the height of and extend the flood embankment in Museum Gardens was approved by City of York Council on 26 November. This forms part of a wider scheme to increase the height of the existing flood defences in Marygate, the remainder of which we will do under permitted development. Next summer, we will install glass panels and flood gates, similar to those we have installed at Almery Terrace, on Earlsborough Terrace. We will increase the height of the flood wall between Esplanade Court and Museum Gardens with brick and install demountable panels. As part of this work, we will adjust the lip of the flood gate next to Scarborough Bridge to improve ease of access.
Tang Hall Beck and Osbaldwick (F4/F5)
This scheme proposes to ‘daylight’ (i.e. remove) approximately 800 meters of an existing culvert running underneath St Nicholas Fields nature reserve, reducing flood risk to over 250 properties. Work on this scheme is progressing from the outline design stage towards a detailed design. The next step is to engage with CYC’s Transport and Highways department, seeking their advice on access to the site through the pre-application process.
St George’s Field
A project start-up meeting was held on 2 December 2020, with a project manager appointed to the scheme. We are aiming for the wall raising and construction of a demountable cut off on Tower Street to be carried out in 2021.
PFR
After experiencing many difficulties which has caused delays, we are beginning to make progress. We have conducted: analysis to help determine which flood cells are to be prioritised fairly; created a ten-stage pathway to help residents to understand how far along in the process they are (see Figure 1 below) : and installed PFR measures on our first properties. Table 1 below provides a high level statistical overview of the status of PFR across York as at 30 November 2020:
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Description |
Quantity |
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PFR cells (approx.) |
11 |
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Eligible properties (approx.) |
400 |
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Property surveys |
99 |
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Legal Agreements signed |
28 |
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Installations |
10 |
Table 1- PFR data (cumulative)
Of these 11 cells, 9 have passed determination. The progress of PFR within these cells is summarised in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 - Progression of PFR with flood cells where works has been determined
Tree Replanting
Since the last CYC Decision Session, we have appointed a project manager to oversee the replanting of trees as required by our Tree Strategy. The project manager’s role is to co-ordinate communications regarding landscape delivery and maintenance within the boundary of those flood cells where landscaping is required (this may include tree planting, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and seeding) and the additional offsite mitigation planting (this will primarily be tree planting). Their responsibilities will include:
· Working with relevant teams within the Environment Agency and our landscape partners, to establish, for example, how many excess trees each cell will have (due to the 5:1 rule for replacing those trees which have been removed);
· the budget they have available for the off-site planting; and
· Assisting with the identification of other suitable planting sites, assessing their suitability and liaising with the relevant stakeholders.
It is expected that the Project Manager will help to provide an holistic view of landscaping activities associated with the flood cells, so that the works can be carried out in a more cost effective and efficient manner.
To date, we have planted 22 trees and are in negotiations with landowners for the replanting of an additional 50 trees. In total, we anticipate that we will need to replant 879 trees across York. We continue to welcome any suggestions from the public as to suitable locations to plant trees.
2. Next steps
· We are planning on starting work on three sites towards the beginning of the year, these are:
o Clementhorpe (B8);
o Bishopthorpe (C1); and
o Foss Storage Area (F8, F10 and F11).
· We are continuing the rollout of the PFR, where eligible residents can benefit from up to £7,500 of bespoke measures to better protect their home from flooding.
