River work to help protect towns from future floods
APROJECT designed to slow the flow of flood water has been completed upstream of Rochdale.
Interventions including tree planting, leaky barriers and clay bunds have been installed across the River Roch catchment area to help protect Littleborough and Rochdale from flooding.
Working with local landowners the project was delivered by Rochdale Council and Mersey Forest with funding from the Environment Agency and the council.
It is hoped the works will reduce the risk of flooding for homes and businesses in the Roch Valley.
The ‘slow-flow’ ventions include:
Storage basins and natural bunds.
These will start to fill when water levels are high and then allow the water to drain slowly away once high flows have passed.
When full they will hold 12,200 cubic metres of flood water storage (equivalent to six Olympic-sized swimming pools).
In-channel features, such as leaky dams that will help to slow down the flow of water as well as supporting biodiversity. inter
Some of the barriers have been created from trees felled during the first construction phase of the River Roch capital scheme, delivering reduced flood risk for the towns of Littleborough and Rochdale.
13.9 hectares of wetlands and 14,900 trees planted.
The scheme has created new wetlands and habitat features and boosted biodiversity.
Sara Rowbotham, deputy leader of Rochdale Borough Council and cabinet member for climate change and sustainability, said: “We’ve successfully brought tens of millions of pounds of funding into the borough, as well as investing council funds, to bring forward a number of schemes to reduce flood risk and manage the impacts of flooding, and this is another important piece of that jigsaw.
“Innovative schemes like this, which see us work with the natural environment to manage flood risk, are a crucial part of our overall flood management strategy and also help support bigger projects further downstream, such as the River Roch flood alleviation scheme in Littleborough that we are working with the Environment Agency to deliver.
“These interventions, from the small to the very big, collectively have a huge impact and are making a difference to thousands of residents and businesses across this area.”
These works will complement the work already underway at Gale in Littleborough to create flood storage and improved defences between Littleborough and Rochdale town centre.
Rochdale Borough Council is one of 25 local authorities to receive funding from the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme.
David Brown, flood risk senior adviser for the Environment Agency said: “Natural flood management uses and enhances the natural landscape to hold back floodwater peaks to reduce flood risk downstream.
“Here in Rochdale, the new features will work hand in hand with traditional engineering solutions to reduce the risk of flooding to homes, businesses and infrastructure across the catchment and will help make Rochdale and Littleborough more resilient to climate change.
“It’s really exciting to have completed what is an innovative approach, using private land kindly volunteered by members of the community, which provides benefits for flood risk management and significant opportunities for wildlife.”