Yorkshire Council's Story
Following widespread flooding in East Yorkshire during the summer of 2007 East Riding of Yorkshire Council embarked on a series of detailed hydraulic modelling studies across the region in order to better understand integrated flood risk. Out of this work, a £55 million suite of flood alleviation schemes were developed to reduce surface water flood risk in the area. These were: Anlaby and East Ella Flood Alleviation Scheme (AEEFAS); Cottingham and Orchard Park Flood Alleviation Scheme (COPFAS); Willerby and Derringham Flood Alleviation Scheme (WaDFAS).
All of the schemes were built with an allowance for climate change in the design.
In December 2013 a tidal surge hit the east coast of England leading to widespread flooding. Following this event, the Council developed the £11 million Hessle Foreshore Tidal Defence Scheme to reduce the risk of tidal flooding to Hessle and West Hull from the Humber Estuary.
Following on from the successful delivery of major flood alleviation schemes such as this, the Council is now part of a wider partnership in the area called 'Living With Water'. Living With Water aims to help build understanding across Hull and the East Riding about the threats and opportunities water brings to our region. It is a partnership between Yorkshire Water, Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the Environment Agency and the University of Hull – all of which play a role in managing water in Hull and the East Riding.
As Living With Water, they are working together to build flood resilience, develop innovative water management systems, and highlight the region as a great place to live, work and visit. The Living With Water partnership has recently presented the project at COP26.
Useful Learnings from Yorkshire Council
A key success of the project was working in partnership with other organisations in the area with respect to managing water and flood risk including the Environment Agency, Hull City Council and Yorkshire Water. It is important to remember that issues such as flood risk, and in a wider context climate change, can only be solved by an integrated approach and do not respect defined organisational boundaries.
In order to maximise the benefit to the local residents and communities, additional funding opportunities outside the conventional central government funding mechanisms were explored. In this respect, the Council was successful with multi-million pound funding bids for Local Growth Funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership as well as the European Regional Development Fund.
Yorkshire Council's Metrics
Number of properties that have a reduced flood risk (20,000).
Cubic metres of water stored to protect properties.
Number of awards the scheme has won.
