Ancient weir is wrecked in bid to build ‘salmon pass’
HOMEOWNERS fear they could be flooded after part of a 400-year-old weir gave way during work to build a swimming lane for salmon.
The Grade II dam was destroyed while engineers built a £2.7million pass to allow fish to head upstream.
It will cost millions to repair – and has created a potential flood risk for residents traumatised by previous underwater nightmares.
Environment Agency chiefs are urgently investigating why Newlay Weir began collapsing into the river Aire in Leeds last weekend.
Homeowners nearby are demanding immediate action to prevent a repeat of flooding they suffered five years ago.
Water has already gushed on to the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey.
One resident said: “Somebody told me they are trying to say it’s related to high water levels surging downstream. But it cannot be coincidence that they have been carrying out this extensive heavy duty work alongside a historic structure – which has suddenly collapsed.” Horsforth town councillor Jonathan Taylor said: “Everybody in the city remembers the terrible flooding of the high street in Kirkstall and it is obviously a huge concern that this protection is no longer in place.”
The new salmon pass at the side of the weir will allow them to swim up the river for the first time in 150 years. Work started last summer, with huge steel barriers being sunk into the river bed.
This reduced the weir’s efficiency by a quarter – forcing extra pressure on the central sections which buckled. Sections downstream also collapsed under the weight of the water.