The Environment Agency is  considering accelerating a number of flood defence schemes in Cumbria, including a £24 million scheme for Kendal, as part of its continuing work following on from the winter storms.

In December 2015 and January 2016 Storms Desmond and Eva saw 6,421 homes and businesses flooded and 56 United Utilities wastewater treatment works impacted in the county.

Emergency repairs to defences have been finished, over 30,000 tonnes of gravel have been moved and investigations are now well underway to pinpoint the cause and extent of flooding. 

The data gathered by the investigations will be used to update the Agency’s mapping modelling and flood warning service. The findings of the investigations will also inform the Flood Investigation Reports being produced by Cumbria County Council, which will in turn be used to inform community flood risk management plans and future spending on flood defences.

At the same time, the Cumbria Floods Partnership, led by Floods Minister Rory Stewart, is re-examining the river catchments in Cumbria and developing whole river catchment action plans to draw together and identify additional actions required to reduce flood risk from source to the sea.

The partnership is investigating what actions can be taken upstream to reduce river flows, such as tree-planting and the use of flood storage basins, to supplement downstream actions such as gravel-removal and the construction of flood defences. The partnership is currently drafting the first version of a 25 year action plan - the Cumbria Flood Action Plan is due for publication this summer,

Kathryn Tanner, Recovery Manager, for the Environment Agency, said:

“Since December, the Environment Agency has been working hard to protect local communities. We’ve been tackling the emergency repairs needed and clearing debris from channels washed down by the winter floods. This work will continue throughout the summer so that we’re ready for winter 2016.”

“We’ve also employed a number of flood and engineering experts to support our investigations of the cause and extent of the December floods. They’ve helped us to identify what worked and what didn’t, what additional actions could help with future floods and also how to better work with, rather than against nature and the existing landscape to reduce the risk of future flooding.”

3,150 raised flood defence assets assessed to date

To date 3,150 raised flood defence assets have been assessed and a programme of repairs put in place.

So far 7 recovery projects have been completed on the Rivers Kent and Leven including flood wall replacement at Ambleside and Burnside, work to deal with the River Sprint landslip and large scale gravel and debris removal at a number of sites. 11 repair projects including embankment repairs at Brigsteer Beck, flood basin and channel repairs at Stock Beck, channel repairs at Kendal and repairs to the industrial estate embankment at Mintsfleet are progressing with a further 7 projects in the planning stages.

On the River Eden 10 recovery projects have been completed including pumping station and storage basin repairs at Durranhill, repairs at and around Little Caldew pumping station, flood defence and culvert repairs at Appleby as well as the Crosby on Eden embankment repairs.

A total of 8 recovery projects have been completed on the River Derwent including Pumping station repairs, wall replacements at Cockermouth and Maryport, as well as embankment repairs at Southwaite Mill. A further 14 repair projects including flood defence repairs, Keswick glass panel and asset repairs, embankment repairs, rebuilding flood defences at Barepot, gravel removal and the stabilisation of a landslip are currently being carried out, with a further 5 projects in the planning stages.

On future work, the Environment Agency said it has 14 future projects previously identified in its capital programme which it is  exploring accelerating, including Kendal at around £24 million. The Agency will also be reviewing how schemes performed at Carlisle, Cockermouth and Keswick.

Floods Minister Rory Stewart commented:

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Cumbrian communities, to volunteers and to officials. It’s fantastic that ‎since Storm Desmond hit last December, Environment Agency teams have undertaken a Herculean task with a £10m flood defence repair programme across Cumbria. And it’s great news that the government has committed a further £68m to flood defences in Cumbria, better protecting more than 3,500 homes across the county.”

“The Cumbria Floods Partnership is at the heart of managing flood risk in the future. We are looking at how we manage flood risk from source to sea with new Catchment Directors using the best local expertise and knowledge to better protect our communities.”

Waterbriefing is media partner with the Institution of Civil Engineers keynote Flooding and Water Management Conference 2016 taking place in London on Thursday 30th June. Click here for more information about the conference.

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