Flood committee sets out next year’s commitments
13th July 2016
A flood and coastal group will oversee spending of more than £24million to protect hundreds of homes across the North East as it sets out its objectives for the next year.
The Northumbria Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (NRFCC) has launched its business plan for 2016/17, which will include work at Blyth, Killingworth, Hartlepool Headland Walls and Greatham South.
It also announced in its 2015/16 annual report that it’s overseen 125 projects costing £27million over the past year.
When all the work is complete it will have reduced the risk to 1,458 properties, while also making improvements to the environment.
Projects include the completion of the Port Clarence scheme at Wilton Engineering’s site in Teesside, the Morpeth flood alleviation scheme’s upstream dam and storage area – which operated for the first time in January - the Fellgate Estate scheme in South Tyneside, as well as the coastal scheme at Skinningrove.
The annual report and business plan together summarise the past year and look forward to the year ahead.
It is the second year of a six-year programme of works which was agreed in January 2015. The business plan will be updated each year to take into account any adjustments to the £108million, six-year programme.
Most projects in the plan are delivered by the Environment Agency and local authorities, with some carried out by, or in partnership with Northumbrian Water.
NRFCC Chairman Jon Hargeaves said: “On completion of the £27million programme of works from 2015/16, we will see a reduction in flood and coastal erosion risk to 1,458 houses in the region, as well as delivering seven environmental projects.
“The committee is a great example of partnership working, with all local authorities, the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water pulling together on behalf of residents and businesses in the North East.
“It’s been a challenging year involving major flooding this past winter which affected hundreds of properties across the region. The committee is keen to understand the impact of this flooding and the issues relating to it.
“At future meetings it will be discussed in further detail so we can make decisions moving forward into the years ahead.”
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