Yorkshire will be better protected from floods this winter
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom announces new state of the art pumps for York's Foss Barrier - providing a 66% increase in capacity.
皇冠体育app Foss Barrier will be able to process an Olympic size swimming pool worth of water in just 50 seconds 鈥� a 66% increase in capacity - thanks to the installation of new state of the art pumps, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced today.
皇冠体育app pumps form part of a 拢17 million upgrade to York鈥檚 key flood defence, which includes ongoing work to raise the pumping room next year.
Eight new pumps will be in place by mid-October, increasing the barrier鈥檚 capacity to 40 cubic metres per second, up from 30. This means York will be assured protection from flooding should rivers rise to the record levels seen last winter. 皇冠体育app barrier鈥檚 capacity will be further increased to 50 cubic metres per second next year, following upgrades to the power supply.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:
皇冠体育app flooding of the Foss Barrier became a focal point of last winter鈥檚 devastating floods and I am delighted to see it strengthened ahead of this winter, with 拢17 million invested, so our great city of York is better protected than ever before.
Of course we can鈥檛 stop the rain falling and rivers rising, but I want people to be assured we are doing everything we can to keep our communities as safe as possible.
That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e investing 拢400 million in flood defence schemes across Yorkshire, up until 2021, to better protect homes and families.
皇冠体育app Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, and the Environment Agency Chair, Emma Howard Boyd will visit the Foss Barrier today to see the first of eight new pumps being installed.
In addition to the upgrade of the barrier, the government will spend 拢45 million on improving flood defences in York over the next 5 years - to better protect over 2,000 properties.
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said:
I visited Yorkshire last year and saw the terrible impact of the floods, and the anxiety placed on communities. 皇冠体育app new, high capacity pumps at the Foss Barrier will help to better protect and reassure the people of York this winter and we have further plans to improve the defences throughout the city over the next five years.
皇冠体育app installation of the pumps today is a key milestone in the Environment Agency鈥檚 extensive flood recovery programme, due to be completed in October.
Andrea Leadsom and Emma Howard Boyd will also visit Leeds today to see the development of a new flood defence scheme in the city, which will see for the first time in the UK the introduction of moveable weirs. 皇冠体育appse can be lowered in flood conditions to reduce river levels and the threat of river flooding.
皇冠体育app River Aire flood alleviation scheme will better protect more than 200 homes and businesses once completed in May next year. It will also reduce the likelihood of flood disruption to more than 3,000 city centre apartments.
皇冠体育app government has invested 拢33 million towards the scheme, which started in 2015. Leeds has also been allocated an additional 拢35 million up to 2021 towards the cost of another project to further protect Leeds upstream from the current scheme.