£41m flood scheme ready by Christmas
‘FANTASTIC NEWS’ £41M WORK WILL BE UP TO DEFENCE LEVEL
A KEY flood scheme in Calderdale will be finished, water-tight and up to flood defence level by Christmas, while the New Year will see work begin on defences for another town.
The £41m Mytholmroyd scheme will be complete save for some final touches, senior advisor for the Environment Agency Paul Swales told Calderdale Council’s Flooding Scrutiny Panel.
“It is fantastic news. We will be winter-ready, the scheme will be water-tight and up to flood defence level by Christmas,” he said.
The panel heard an alleviation scheme for neighbouring Hebden Bridge would begin next year.
In Todmorden, major demolition of Shade chapel at Rochdale Road has been completed, better protecting around 250 properties, with new work beginning in the New Year.
Mr Swales said Mytholmroyd’s project had been an exceptional one - although taking five years after the 2015 Boxing Day floods, it had been completed in about half the time a project of this scale usually took.
It had its challenges and was not completed in the normal way, with design and build work being carried out concurrently, he said.
“It is a very constrained site bringing problems with traffic management and disruption to the community, and lots of unforeseen circumstances such as water main bursts,” he said.
Another major flood in February this year, second-worst behind 2015, and the pandemic also impacted on work.
Members were updated on the Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme, and projects to better protect properties at Erringden, and in Hebden Bridge town centre at Stubbing Holme Road.
Following more detailed design work, construction at Hebden Bridge should start next summer.
Like the Erringden scheme, which will deal with surface water management, it should give a one-in-50-year event level of protection, up from one-in-five years.
At Stubbing Holme Road more survey work will precede a scheme start date of 2022.