Clash over flood risks on land targeted for jobs and housing

East Riding Council has identified land to build around 2,500 new homes to the south of Beverley – but has rejected a bid from Hull Council to develop the former airfield at Hedon for both jobs and housing, on the grounds of flood risk.

Planners in Hull say the East Riding Council is being inconsistent, claiming around half the land at Beverley is at risk of flooding.

Responding to East Riding Council’s draft local plan, they said: “Despite flood risk being used extensively by the local plan as a reason to either reject sites altogether or reduce their size, this site (fields between existing housing in Beverley and the town’s new bypass) has been allocated despite approximately half of it being at risk of flooding.

“This seems to be inconsistent with the approach being used elsewhere such as for the former Hedon airfield site and some sites around Cottingham.”

But East Riding Council said contrary to Hull’s claims, no more than a third of the development land at Beverley was within the flood plain – and they were not proposing building any houses on flood-risk areas.

Hull Council, which has owned Hedon airfield since 1929, wants to divide it into three zones, with land to the west along the city boundary developed for “employment” uses, a green space in the centre, and 450 homes to the east.

Hull councillor Steve Bayes, portfolio holder for energy and regeneration, said: “When it is to their advantage they (the East Riding Council) choose to ignore a particular problem like flood risk, but where it is not to their advantage they choose to play it very hard. All I ask is a level playing field.

“You have to have a balance between preserving what’s there and creating wealth, so people can get jobs. You can’t say ‘no’ to everything.”

Prof Barbara English, of Beverley Civic Society, said targets for building south of Beverley kept creeping up. She said: “In view of undoubted climate changes which we are seeing where flooding is becoming much more frequent, it seems perverse to set out to build huge numbers of houses on a flood plain.”

But ward councillor for South West Holderness, Coun John Dennis, welcomed East Riding Council’s approach. He said: “We were under several flood warnings around Christmas and the main Burstwick and Westlands drains were brimming to the top.

“East Riding Council have listened to the residents of Hedon and Preston and put these sites down to be rejected and I would hope they stick to their guns.”

He said the green space between Hedon and Hull needed protecting – including sports fields just off the Saltend roundabout, land included in one of the bids.

Coun Dennis added: “We are fully aware of the need for jobs in the vicinity and we are aware of Green Port Hull but there are other important aspects to this and we feel maintaining the identity of the ancient town of Hedon is very important. We don’t want to become another Sutton-on-Hull which was lost to urban sprawl in the 1970s.”

East Riding Council has commissioned a study to try and understand the flood risks facing the town better, which will take at least 18 months.

Housing and spatial strategy manager Stephen Hunt said they were not proposing building any houses on flood plain areas south of Beverley, adding: “As far as we are concerned we are not being inconsistent.”

He said Hull’s comments would be considered along with all the other responses which numbered 600 so far.

The airfield, the area’s original racecourse and first commercial airfield in the UK, provided the scene for the triumphant homecoming of Hull-born aviator Amy Johnson in 1930, in the plane she had recently flown single-handedly to Australia.