A cleaner and greener borough with the Environment Agency

Hello from everyone at the Environment Agency and welcome to our latest round-up exclusively for Rochdale Online. It’s been an extraordinary start to the year weather-wise with Storm Christoph hitting us over the 18-21 January, leaving a trail of devastation across the North West.

Greater Manchester saw some of the worst impacts and this month, we are using our round-up to take a look back at our response to the flooding that fell across many of our river catchments and how we are now moving forward with recovery, plus an update on the local flood scheme.

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Taking the next step in flood risk management for Rochdale

Following the recent flooding incidents, it seems timely for the project team to update you around work on the proposed flood scheme in Rochdale and Littleborough. The good news is its getting off the starting blocks.

The new scheme led by the Environment Agency in partnership with Rochdale Brough Council, Network Rail, the North West RFCC, TfGM, and the Departments for Education and Transport, will be constructed in three phases.

It will feature a range of measures to reduce the risk of flooding across Rochdale and Littleborough including a new flood storage area at Gale, as well as raised walls and improvements to culverts and bridges in areas including Greenvale Brook, Town House Brook, Ealees Brook, Buckley Brook and Hey Brook.

Once completed, the scheme will become one of the largest and most complex inland flood risk management schemes in the north of England, improving flood protection for 1,000 residential properties and 200 local businesses as well as major infrastructure such as the tram network, the railway line in Littleborough, the bus interchange, schools and colleges, a grid substation and the waste water treatment works.

The first phase of works has seen tree and vegetation clearance at one of the Littleborough sites. This is essential to enable the construction of the new defences.

To help mitigate the impact this will have on the environment, there will be a scheme of replanting and landscaping on completion of the flood risk management works.

The project team has also used the timber from the felled trees to contribute to Natural Flood Risk Management. Working in close partnership with Mersey Forest and Rochdale Borough Council, we have used the wood from the tree clearance for NFM works in the Littleborough area. This activity will assist in upland land management to “slow the flow” of watercourses.

Going forward the scheme will continue to move at pace with further works planned in April. Watch this space for all the latest information!

As always, it is worth noting, that even with flood defences in place, you can never entirely remove the risk of flooding.

Last month’s wet weather has reminded us all of the importance of being prepared and you can check your risk as well as signing up for free flood warnings by phoning Floodline, on 0345 988 1188, or by going online.

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Recovery work goes on after Storm Christoph

Operations are underway to help communities across recover from flooding following the severe weather brought by Storm Christoph.                          

Over that short but memorable period of 18 -21 January 2021, levels of water in the River Mersey broke records. In Didsbury at the vast flood storage reservoir, which is capable of holding up to 310 Olympic size swimming pools of water, the distance between safety and a threat to people’s lives was a matter of centimetres. But, the defences there held firm and protected around 3,000 properties.

It was one of the wettest three days on record. Throughout the incident, our teams and our partners, in the police and fire services, took a ‘think big, act early approach’ meaning we were able to protect more than 24,000 properties and businesses through a combination of operating defences and assets. We were also able to warn more than 6,000 people in advance of Christoph’s arrival through our flood warning service.

In real terms, that means that tens of thousands of people were not displaced from their homes but sadly despite our actions, nature found a way through, and at least 369 properties across Greater Manchester and Cheshire fell victim to the misery of flooding.

The experience of having your property flooded is hugely distressing. The emotional and economic damage leaves a lasting impact and it will take time to recover.

Our role is to make our communities more resilient to flooding so that when it does happen it poses much less risk to people, does much less damage, and life can get back to normal much quicker. In recent weeks, our Community Information Officers have been in touch with residents and business owners affected by flooding to offer information and advice as well as signposting people to help by working with Local Authorities.

Our Operational Teams are also back out on the ground implementing a well-tested programme of prevention, planning, response and recovery work as well as carrying out detailed assessments of our assets and rivers to ensure our communities are as flood resilient as they can possibly be.

The experience of Christoph highlights the importance of investing in creating and maintaining flood defences. In excess of £115m has been invested flood defences across Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire since 2010, providing better protection for around 6,150 homes.

For every £1 spent improving protection from flooding and coastal erosion, we avoid around £5 of property damages. Money for flood protection is also an investment in economic restoration, and a way of improving health and wellbeing by enhancing our green spaces. 

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Spreading the word: Observe, but don't disturb

Routine maintenance of our flood assets is an ongoing programme of works and we are now almost entering a time of year where we have to be particularly careful.

From the beginning of March bird nesting season starts which means we have to ensure that we do not disturb birds or their nests until their chicks have fledged. Disturbing nesting birds is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which can result in a £5,000 fine and up to two years in prison so we have to make sure our works do not harm them.

The same law applies to everyone and is enforced by the police so it’s definitely a good idea to think carefully when carrying out any gardening at this time of year.

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Greener fishing licences

As we continue to reduce the environmental impact of our work, our rod licence team has found a way to increase the amount of recycled plastic in our fishing licence cards by 25%.

The new cards are as environmentally friendly as possible whilst being durable and waterproof. They are made using a PET plastic with a high recycled content and at the end of their use, are fully recyclable via most local Councils plastics recycling collections.

The paper used in customer letters is also from FSC sustainable sources and is part of the carbon capture programme with the Woodland Trust, supporting the planting of indigenous trees in the UK.

Last month, we published our Annual Fisheries Report detailing where income from your rod licences is spent between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. The money we receive is vital for the protection and enhancement of our fisheries and precious fish stocks.

 

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Don’t forget to say hello

Have you spotted Team EA out and about? Aside from incident response, in the past month in Rochdale, the team have been busy carrying out routine maintenance on our assets on the River Roch, the River Beal and Stanney Brook. 

If you do see us out and about in the Rochdale community don’t forget to say hello or give us a wave! We love interacting with the communities we serve and it really does brighten our day to talk to you but please do follow government guidance on social distancing.

Stay in touch

You can stay up-to-date with the latest news and information from the Environment Agency on Twitter and Instagram at @EnvAgencyNW. 

We look forward to sharing more of our stories and successes with you in April.