A cleaner and greener borough with the Environment Agency

Date published: 29 March 2019

Hello from everyone at the Environment Agency and welcome to our latest area round-up exclusively for Rochdale Online.

In this bi-monthly report, we aim to bring you a rundown of all the work we have been doing in your local community as well as key news and developments from the Environment Agency across Greater Manchester as a whole.

We hope you enjoy reading. Here’s what we have been up to in Rochdale and the surrounding areas over the last two months:

---

Taking the next step in flood risk management

The Rochdale and Littleborough Flood Risk Scheme project team continues to develop with Detailed Design for Phase 1 (in Littleborough) and a view to being on site by the first half of 2020.

It is currently hoped that construction will start in Rochdale at the beginning of 2021 with the scheme completing by construction by 2023/24 - subject to all approvals being in place.

Though the finalisation of the scheme might be some time away at the moment, we have still been busy reducing the risk of flooding in and around Rochdale. In addition to the work in developing the design for the flood scheme, approximately 50 tonnes of gravel and silt were removed on Saturday 16 March at John Street on the River Roch, in order to reduce flood risk following a particularly wet weekend!

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/126695/flooding-photo-and-video-gallery-saturday-16-march-2019

The Town House Brook culvert near to Todmorden Road in Littleborough has also had sediment removed to help water flow more freely and our team have fitted a new debris screen at Charlotte Street on Sudden Brook to reduce the chance of blockages occurring.

Once completed, the future flood scheme will increase the level of protection to 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.

Going forward, we hope to hold a number of drop-in sessions in the coming months to give residents and businesses an update on the progress of the proposed flood scheme and invite them to share their views on the ongoing proposals.

 

 

Developing resilient communities

A big part of our day-today activities is encouraging communities to always prepare for flooding and become more resilient to its effects. As part of this, we recently invited members of the Littleborough Flood Group to visit our incident room at our offices in Warrington to see how we forecast and respond to flooding in house.

In February, we also supported The Littleborough Flood Resilience Group by getting involved in their community drop-in day. The day helped residents to prepare for any future flood event by showcasing the work of the organisations that help with flooding issues and emergency events for Littleborough and Rochdale including the Environment Agency, our partners at Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service as well as:

• The Oldham Branch of the Mountain Rescue Service
• Hebden Bridge and Todmorden Flood Groups
• National Flood Forum with Rochdale Borough Council
• The Littleborough Civic Trust and Littleborough Lions

The day was a great success with plenty of residents dropping in to find out what they can do to minimise the risk. If you didn’t get chance to stop by, there will be plenty of other events where you can meet us for a chat and we will make sure to publish them with Rochdale Online so do keep an eye out.

In the meantime, there are actions you can take to become more #floodaware (and you can do them in the comfort of your own home). Being prepared and knowing what to do could save valuable time and money and help you to recover quicker should a flood affect you and your property.

It is never too early to start but it could be too late. Visit www.gov.uk/prepare-for-flooding to find out how you can get flood ready by making a plan and signing up for flood warnings.

 

 

209 debris screens cleared and the risk of flooding reduced

Over the last few months, our Operations Team have been busy removing blockages and clearing grids throughout the local area. This vital work helps reduce flood risk to the community by ensuring the rivers and streams of Rochdale and Bury remain clear.

Since the start of this year, our team have cleared 209 screens in the Rochdale area and 108 screens in nearby Bury. During Storm Gareth on Thursday 14 March to Monday 18 March, we had teams working throughout the night around these catchments clearing screens, removing blockages and attending to incident reports made by members of the public to reduce the potential impact of possible flooding. The very intense rain that fell in Rochdale, Littleborough over that time also affected Bury and Salford areas from the River Irwell.

Every time we operate a debris screen during a possible flooding event, we maintain protection to over 250 properties. We did this eight times over the past three months as well as routinely making sure they were clear every week.

 

 

The River Roch health check

Our Fisheries Team have been busy over the last two months ensuring the River Roch and surrounding Rochdale watercourses are healthy and full of thriving fish populations.

In January, the team visited Rochdale Town Centre to carry out an inspection of the water levels at the weir and that the fish pass was clear for the resident fish (mainly brown trout), to be able to migrate freely during the spawning season.

The River Roch fish pass is designed to fish to improve access for fish by allowing them to pass freely upstream over the weir. Survey and monitoring work on fish passes is essential for understanding the health of our rivers as the presence of high fish populations is a good indicator of the quality of the water and habitats in that channel.

One of the main duties for our fisheries team is to carry out enforcement work, which means checking all anglers are fishing legally and have bought the correct rod licence for fishing. In February, the team were out at Kitcliffe, Piethorne and Ogden reservoirs as well as Hollingworth Lake checking rod licences and carrying out anti-poaching patrols.

The team also responded to reports of pollution at Doctor Dam near Heywood and although no dead fish were found, our Environment Officers were called in to investigate the source of the incident.

Patrols like this are an effective deterrent and also give us the opportunity to jointly gain valuable intelligence that can be used in the prevention and detection of more serious crimes. We often find that people who are willing to fish illegally are also willing to be involved in other, more serious criminal activity.

 

 

Over the last few years, we’ve been cracking down on people who do not buy rod licences. Last year we checked 1,986 rod licences in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire and prosecuted more than 40 anglers who were fishing without one.

Stay in touch

Don’t forget 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 with you in April.