Exclusive: Anti-flood scheme at risk over £150,000 demand

The project to provide additional protection for Pickering and the nearby village of Sinnington is seen as a blueprint that could be used for other upland communities across the country, and has been in development for several years.

Ryedale District Council has already pledged £800,000 towards the £950,000 project, but the Yorkshire Post has learned that at a private meeting on Wednesday night, Environment Agency chiefs demanded the extra cash.

The cost of the scheme, to build earth dams to contain up to 18 million gallons of water from Pickering Beck, is expected to rise considerably after the design of the earth bunds (embankments) had to be revised because engineers feared that they could actually have made major flooding events worse.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said yesterday “We have asked the council for an additional contribution of £150,000, they will discuss this at a meeting on March 10.

“We will have to look at our options after the meeting if the money is not forthcoming.”

But despite the major setback, campaigners say they are still hopeful the scheme will get off the ground.

A spokesman of the Ryedale Flood Research Group and vice-chairman of Pickering’s civic society, Mike Potter, said the decision to demand the extra money could be a “massive hitch” to the scheme, but he was confident it would still be going ahead.

“Sometimes I still think they live in another world thinking somebody will just stump up the cash”, he said.

“We are in a recession and money is tight. But I can’t believe people will let this fail without making some real waves. It is fantastic work that is being done and is the sort of work that could and should be repeated all over the country.”

The Slowing the Flow project in Ryedale was one of three schemes nationally which were awarded a total of £1m in Government funding in 2009.

The groundbreaking initiatives are using nature to combat flooding and represent a major shift from engineering solutions back to techniques such as planting new woodland to slow run-off.

A total of £700,000 is being used to finance other elements of the Ryedale project such as tree-planting and the introduction of mini-dams in the watercourses.

However, the embankments, which will stretch for more than half a mile at a height of 5ft, are seen as one of the key parts of the overall scheme.

The Environment Agency’s project manager, Lucy Huckson, maintained to the Yorkshire Post earlier this week that she was confident the scheme would become a reality despite the rising costs.

Planning permission has already been obtained for preparatory work, which is expected to start next month, although full planning permission still needs to be secured.

The main construction programme of the earth dams is due to begin in the summer.

Nobody from Ryedale Council was yesterday available for comment.