Hull £36.5m flood defence work plans go on show

Flood defences along the River Hull need improving to protect more than 60,000 properties in the city, the Environment Agency says

Plans for a £36.5m project to improve flood defences in Hull and East Yorkshire have gone on display.

Proposals include repairing defences along a 4.6 mile (7.5km) length of the River Hull and replacing a section of wall at Stoneferry Bridge.

The Environment Agency said it also intended to raise flood barriers by a metre along a 10-mile stretch between Hessle, East Yorkshire, and Salt End.

It said repairs were necessary to keep the existing standard of protection.

Read more stories from across Hull and East Yorkshire

Flood defences had aged or deteriorated over time which potentially posed a risk of flooding when river levels were high, the Environment Agency said.

Work to repair the river defences and replace the wall at Stoneferry Bridge, which protect about 63,000 properties in Hull, are scheduled to start later this month.

The Environment Agency said it had identified 39 sites where defences needed repair work

Project manager Claire Gould said: "The defences that reduce the risk of flooding in the city of Kingston upon Hull from the River Hull are in poor condition.

"The River Hull defences scheme is a large and complex project. This phase of work will be completed in 2019 but we will continue to develop plans for future phases of work as work on site progresses."

About 39 locations along the river have been identified as having defences in need of work.

A spokesperson for the agency said: "Work will vary from one location to another; some sites need only minor repairs to existing walls whereas others require complete replacement of several hundreds of metres of piled defences."

Work on raising the barriers between Hessle and Salt End is earmarked for 2018 and is expected to be completed by winter 2020.

Designs for the project are on show at the Guildhall until 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.