Work on a new multi-million pound pumping station in Hull gets under way this week.
The East Hull Pumping Station, part of a £28.5 million flood alleviation scheme, will reduce the risk of flooding to 1,000 homes in the city.
The station will be built at the southern end of the Holderness Drain, where it meets the Humber in Marfleet, after city planners gave the go-ahead last month.
It will enable the discharge of water from Holderness Drain to the estuary at high tide when water levels in the drain are raised, pumping up to 10 tonnes of water a second.
Workers on the new pumping station will follow strict Government guidelines in relation to social distancing.
The pumping station is phase one of the Holderness Drain Flood Alleviation Scheme, with work set to start on a second phase to create a flood relief area near the historic Castle Hill monument area, east of Bransholme and Sutton, later this year.
The new Holderness Drain pumping station, viewed from the Humber estuary.
Councillor Mike Thompson, Hull City Council’s portfolio holder for neighbourhoods, communities and environment, said: “We are delighted to see this critical work get under way. The pumping station is the first piece of a much bigger jigsaw and the work done in terms of partnership funding to get it to this stage.
“These defence measures will help to minimise the impact of flooding to some of our area’s most vulnerable parts of land, and highlights the continued commitment we have to protecting homes from flooding.”
Works starts on new pumping station in Hull as part of £28.5m Holderness Drain flood alleviation scheme, to protect 1,000+ properties in the east of the city. It defends against tidal surges pushing up from estuary, while pumping water out of drain.https://t.co/g3QTzYjrpl pic.twitter.com/o7Yl8brrO7
— Environment Agency – Yorkshire & North East (@EnvAgencyYNE) May 12, 2020
Andrew Barron, the Environment Agency’s senior flood risk advisor for Hull, said: It is great news that this scheme is coming to fruition. Hull and the surrounding area is very low lying and this pumping station is vital to keep water moving into the Humber estuary.”
The scheme is a partnership project with Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and Highways England.
Find out about flood risk and sign up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service here or call Floodline on 0345 9881188.
