£100m flood defence tree planting plans for Leeds

Hundreds of thousands of trees could be planted in a £100m scheme to protect Leeds from flooding.

The plans are to be considered by Leeds City Council’s executive board next week and propose a variety of measures as part of the second phase of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme.

With the £50m first phase of the scheme which has introduced new flood protection for the city centre, Holbeck and downstream at Woodlesford set to be completed next month, Leeds City Council working with the Environment Agency and BMM jV have now released details of the further measures required for phase two.

The plans follow a study of the river catchment following the impact of Storm Eva at Christmas 2015.

The proposals brought forward include measures further upstream including the Kirkstall corridor which was badly hit by the floods. It also looks at areas beyond the city boundary to further reduce the possibility of the river flooding in Leeds, as well as additional measures to offer protection for the South Bank area of the city centre, a key future economic driver for Leeds.

Plans include:
Creating new woodland areas by planting hundreds of thousands of tree saplings
Where possible, using sites in Leeds to retain flood waters when levels are high. Control gates would be used to fill and then release water from the stores back into river when safe to do so.
A new 700-metre long flood defence at Stourton with new walls and surface water interventions similar to those installed at Woodlesford as part of phase one.
Removing existing obstructions along the river to help reduce water levels, along with also lowering the riverbed in places to improve its capacity and flow.
Improving riverbank protection measures along the river catchment in Craven and Pendle along with enhanced woodland areas and installing debris dams.
Constructing raised defences along with landscaping, terracing, embarkments and walls, but due to the range of natural measures the height of any engineered defences will not need to be as high as previously projected.

The report calls for approval to put forward a business case to the government to invest an initial £3.4m in advanced works including tree planting, vegetation and channel clearance between Rodley and Leeds Rail Station as well as the Stourton defences and the removal of a redundant bridge at Milford Place and a platform under Gotts Bridge.

It also calls for further engagement with stakeholders on the broader measures with all of the works on phase two estimated to cost around £101m in total.

An overall business case for the entire scheme is to be submitted to government by the end of this year which if approved could see work on the major elements begin early in 2019.

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