Anti-flood storage area completed

The Environment Agency has built the facility next to Beverley Road in the town to hold excess water from Western Drain during heavy rain.

This limits the flow downstream, reducing the risk of water coming out of the drain at Astral Close and flooding properties, as it did during the devastating floods of 2007.

The storage area will hold 36,000 cubic metres of water below ground level. When levels fall in Western Drain the stored water will flow back into the drain through a pipe.

The scheme reduces the risk of flooding for 249 properties, providing protection against storms which have a one in 75 chance of happening in any one year.

“Because the storage area will increase overall capacity in the Western Drain’s catchment, we know the scheme will reduce flood risk to a wider area,” said project manager Will Benedikz.

“We anticipate the storage area will be full once every 75 years but will be used during less intense storms.”