Planning permission set to go in for Brighouse flood scheme

Paul Swales, Environment Agency area lead, said most ground and site investigations had been completed and a planning submission was now imminent.

In preparation, a lot of tree and vegetation clearance had been undertaken ready for construction work to begin, he told members of Calderdale Flood Recovery and Resilience Programme Board.

Members heard the scheme will improve the flood resilience of Brighouse by refurbishing and replacing assets on River Calder and installing new flood defences on Clifton Beck.

As part of the project, and in partnership with Calderdale council and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, environmental improvements will also be made.

The scheme has identified two areas of surface water flooding risk and work is ongoing with Calderdale Council and Yorkshire Water to include measures to improve the situation.

Advanced design works packages for works on River Calder completed and the project team are finalising the planning application for the Wellholme Park and Whinney Park interventions which the EA anticipates will be submitted in the coming weeks.

Detailed design for the Lower Clifton Beck and Surface Water pumping stations are under way.

The project team held a public consultation in February 2022, which was attended by more than 40 people, to showcase designs and visualisations for the flood alleviation scheme, and environmental projects associated with it.

Feedback from the session was used to inform some of the finishing details incorporated in the final designs for the parks.

The compound for the Brighouse scheme, on Thornhill Beck Lane, is now fully operational with the project team co-locating at site regularly.

Thought is also being given to where drop-ins for the public – these had worked well at another major scheme, at Mytholmroyd – might also be held, the board heard.

Coun Steven Leigh (Con, Ryburn) asked if previous modelling assumptions about flooding – for example what were one in 50 year events – had been reassessed in the light of incidents, questioning whether previous data was valid.

Jo Arnold, Environment Agency (EA) senior flood risk adviser, said in terms of Brighouse the they thought they knew the issues but then the February 2020 floods happened.

“What happened was very different to what we believed previously, so we completely re-ran modelling top take into account recent events,” she said.

Modelling also took into account potential changes in the light of climate change, for example it is to be workable in 100 years’ time, she said.

“We aren’t just using historic data, we are building a picture every single time something happens,” she said.

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