‘Schemes like this are vital to help reduce the risk of flooding’
Westlands Drain at Draper’s Lane, Hedon, where construction will begin on the first phase of the £2.5m Hedon Flood Alleviation Scheme(Image: East Riding of Yorkshire Council)
Construction is due to begin on a new £2.5m flood alleviation scheme in Hedon. East Riding Council is to invest in a major project designed to reduce the risk of flooding to properties in the town by improving the drainage of surface water, such as heavy rainfall.
Work is due to begin on phase one of the initiative on Westlands Drain, in Draper’s Lane, on Monday, July 13. The Hedon scheme is one of four flood alleviation schemes the council has committed to build in towns and villages in South Holderness over the next 18 months, subject to securing planning permission and consents.
The other three are projects in Preston and Hedon North, costing £3.4m; Thorngumbald, costing £3.1m, and Burton Pidsea, costing £2.1m. The four towns and villages have suffered significant flooding in the past, most notably in 2007, when hundreds of properties were flooded across the South Holderness area.
Work will see the construction of a series of measures at each site, including embankments, floodwalls, new watercourses and sustainable drainage measures such as swales and flood retention ponds. These are designed to both divert and store flood water during periods of intense rainfall and together are targeted at reducing the risk of flooding to around 400 homes and businesses.
Councillor Paul West, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Reducing the risk of flooding for communities in the East Riding is one of the council’s major priorities and we continue to secure significant investment for projects designed for this very purpose. I’m pleased to see the start of construction on this latest initiative in Hedon specifically designed to help protect dozens of households and businesses in the area from the misery of flooding.”
Dean Hamblin, flood and coastal risk management senior adviser at the Environment Agency, said: “In recent years, Yorkshire and the Humber has seen more investment in flood risk management than any other part of the country, and it’s encouraging to see that investment now being delivered on the ground, bringing real benefits to communities like Hedon. As we expect climate change to increase the likelihood and frequency of extreme weather events, schemes like this are vital to help reduce the risk of flooding and limit the wider disruption and impacts that flooding can cause.”
Phase One
The first phase of the Hedon Flood Alleviation Scheme will involve the construction of a new and improved surface water drainage system within the existing road and council-owned land along Draper’s Lane. The measures are designed to increase the capacity within the existing surface water drainage network and provide a new outfall into Westlands Drain.
The first phase is scheduled to take around four weeks to complete.
Phase Two
The second stage still requires planning permission, but construction is currently forecast to start in mid-2027, subject to planning approval and obtaining the necessary consents.
The council has been working with key project partners and stakeholders including the Living with Water Partnership, Hedon Town Council, landowners and the local community as part of the design and development of the scheme.
Further formal consultation will take place as part of the second phase of the scheme. The Hedon Flood Alleviation Scheme is funded by around £2.4m of Flood Defence Grant in Aid funding from Defra, administered by the Environment Agency.
This has been supplemented by partnership funding contributions of £132,000 from the Department for Education, in recognition of the reduction of flood risk to schools in Hedon, and £22,000 from the council to cover the costs of initial feasibility work. The council secured funding worth a total of £11m towards all four flood alleviation schemes.
The four projects are the latest of the authority’s £100m programme of flood alleviation schemes to be built since 2015, which have reduced flood risk to around 25,000 properties. This includes the successful completion of some of the largest surface water flood alleviation schemes in the country.
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