Skinningrove flood recovery work starts
Work has started in the village of Skinningrove as part of the Environment Agency’s multi-million pound flood recovery programme.
New bridge parapets and gates in Skinningrove
Repair work in Skinningrove includes channel clearance and replacement and repairs to debris screens on the Kilton Beck, as well as improving access so they can be cleaned and maintained.
The work started on Monday, August 22, and is expected to take around three weeks.
It’s part of a £3million Environment Agency recovery programme to restore damaged flood defences and recover from storms which hit the North East last winter.
Alan Cadas, Environment Agency Operations Manager for the North East, said:
The storms this past winter had a terrible impact on people’s lives, homes and businesses and we’re in the process of carrying out repair works across the North East.
Residents will see us on site in Skinningrove this week and beyond carrying our recovery projects.
Work to get our assets back to the condition they were in prior to the storms is a challenge, but we’re working tirelessly to restore protection to communities.
The Environment Agency is working closely with Northumbrian Water and local authorities to carry out recovery projects.
A community event – hosted by the Environment Agency and partners - was held in Skinningrove earlier this year, which included a live Flood Warning Siren test and a demonstration of new flood defences.
The event was to help the community be better prepared for flooding.
The flood defences in the village were upgraded in a project completed in September 2015, meaning the bridge parapets at Zetland Row now lower automatically at the push of a button, rather than having to be lowered manually.
It significantly reduces the time needed to ensure the flood gates are closed and parapets are lowered when river levels are high.
The Environment Agency’s Flood Resilience team has been working with residents to finalise a Community Action Plan.