A six-year plan on how the city will be protected from flooding has been revealed.
In Hull, more than 100,000 homes are at risk of flooding. To try and reduce flood risk, a huge amount of work and investment has gone into building flood defences to protect the city and its residents, but it can never fully eliminate the total risk of flooding.
And now the local authority has set out a six-year plan from 2021 – 2027 detailing how it will work with the Environment Agency and the Living with Water Partnership to identify and manage flood risks.
Plans include work to model and understand the ongoing risks flooding poses, how they can be managed, and exploring options for surface water flood risk improvement schemes by using SuDS. SuDS are sustainable drainage systems that are designed to manage rain or storm water locally.
This information will then form part of the Environment Agency’s Flood Risk Management Plan for areas which are classified as being at significant risk from flooding.
Councillor Dean Kirk, portfolio holder for transportation, roads, highways and flood prevention, said: “By working in partnership with our colleagues in the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water, we’ve sourced a significant amount of protection for the city against flooding.
“And because flooding can come from a number of sources including tidal, river, surface water, ground water or sewer, it means partnership working is critical in ensuring all flood risks can be managed as effectively as possible.
“Flooding still possesses a real risk to our city which will only increase with climate change, and with Hull being the second-highest number of properties at flood risk in the UK outside of London, with 98 per cent of the city defined as high risk in terms of flooding, this partnership work is vital.”
The authority declared a climate change emergency in 2019, setting a target for the city to become carbon-neutral by 2030.
The report was discussed at the Infrastructure and Energy Overview and Scrutiny Commission on Wednesday 16 June, and a final decision will be made at Cabinet on Monday 28 June.
To read the full report visit the Hull City Council website.
