Leeds City Council and the Environment Agency are working together to identify a solution for the whole of the city from the River Aire.
Phase 2 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme is taking a catchment-wide approach. This means the entire River Aire catchment area will be considered to help reduce flood risk in Leeds including areas such as Kirkstall and Stourton. This approach will adopt a combination of Natural Flood Management (NFM) and engineered measures to help slow the flow and catch water further up the catchment so that flood peaks are reduced further downstream.
Other measures include increased protection for the South Bank area of the city centre which is a key future economic driver for Leeds.
The Phase 2 plans have a strong focus on NFM, with proposals to create new woodland areas which would more than double canopy coverage in the River Aire catchment. Water storage areas will be created and developed, operated by a control gate system meaning water can be held and then released back into the river when safe to do so. A third element would be the removal of existing obstructions along the river to help reduce water levels, along with lowering the riverbed in places to improve its capacity and flow.
The range of measures currently proposed include:
- a programme of NFM works introduced over the next 30 years with the aim of sustaining the standard of protection in the face of climate change up to 2069. This would involve:
- creating new woodland areas by planting hundreds of thousands of trees
- land management to reduce run off
- river and flood plain restoration including re-meandering of the river channel in certain areas and smaller storage ponds
- where possible, using sites in Leeds to store flood waters when river levels are high. Current proposals include a site upstream at Calverley and Rodley Nature Reserve;
- advanced construction works creating Aa new 700-metre long flood defence at Stourton;
- improving the flow of water through the city with the removal of redundant bridges at Armley Mills; raising Milford Place footbridge; removal of an under-hanging structure at Redcote Lane bridge and widening the river channel adjacent to the A65;
- improving riverbank protection measures along the river catchment in Craven and Pendle along with enhanced woodland areas and installing debris dams;
- constructing raised defences along the river which could include landscaping, terracing, embankments and walls;
You can view the
Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme flood extents (PDF 412KB) to see the area that is being covered by Phase 2 of the scheme.
Business case and outline design
We are currently developing a full business case for Phase 2, which is expected to be submitted in January 2018. After this, the outline design will be progressed, followed by a tender process and the construction contract award in autumn 2018.
How you can get involved
The consultation for the first options for Phase 2 has now closed. You can still download a copy of the
LFAS Consultation Leaflet Information (PDF 4MB).
Stay up to date
The project team produces a quarterly newsletter which is available in the Documents section below.
You can also follow us on our dedicated twitter account
@LeedsFAS for the latest information, updates and project information.
