Residents in Rochdale and Littleborough invited to find out more about future flood risk management

Photo: Wendy Randall

Rochdale Town Centre 1.30pm Saturday 26 December.

Residents in Littleborough and Rochdale are being invited share their thoughts on future flood risk management at two community drop-in sessions.

Hosted by the Environment Agency the sessions follow a recent announcement by government to award £5 million of additional funding towards a new flood defence scheme around the River Roch and its tributaries in Littleborough and Rochdale.

Once completed, this major project will improve flood protection for 1,000 residential properties as well as critical infrastructure such as the tram network, a bus station, a grid sub-station and a waste water treatment works.

The first drop-in session will take place on Tuesday 18 September at Hare Hill House, Littleborough from 3pm to 7pm. It will provide an overview of work that has been conducted so far and allow the project team to share the latest developments with the local community. There will also be a second event in Rochdale which will be held on Monday 24 September at Number 1 Riverside from 3pm to 7pm.

Environment Agency officers and representatives from Rochdale Borough Council will also be on hand throughout the events to discuss and answer any questions residents may have.

Nick Pearson, Senior Flood and Coastal Risk Management Adviser with the Environment Agency said, “Since the Boxing Day floods in 2015, which saw large parts of the Littleborough and Rochdale community affected, the Environment Agency and Rochdale Borough Council have been exploring ways to better protect the area in the future. This has included extensive appraisal work to identify the best ways of investing both government and partner funding in improved flood defences.

“We are now pleased to be in a position to share the latest developments for managing future flood risk in Littleborough and Rochdale with the community. Initial design proposals for the Rochdale and Littleborough Flood Risk Management Scheme have been developed and will be on display during the community drop-in events. This will show residents the work that is proposed for the scheme including, raising defences at key locations along the river’s edge, flood storage and using natural flood risk management techniques to boost local regeneration.

“The upcoming drop-in sessions are a great opportunity for us to share all the development options with local residents and gain further local knowledge and insight around the scheme proposals going forward.  We would encourage everyone to come along to learn more about our ongoing work, to contribute to the designs by sharing their views and thoughts on the plans and to see how they can continue to be involved as project develops.”