Lincolnshire and Doncaster councils awarded £6.7m for flood scheme

The funding is to support trials of alternative solutions in North East Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.

A multi-million pound project to help prevent flooding in North East Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire has been announced.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has awarded North East Lincolnshire Council and Doncaster Council £6.7m.

The investment is to support finding alternative solutions to surface water flooding problems in urban areas.

This includes trialling sustainable retrofit drainage systems near schools.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the investment will be targeted specifically where there is little potential for large-scale flood storage works.

Stewart Swinburn, North East Lincolnshire Council's portfolio holder for environment and transport, said: "We're delighted to have been awarded this funding from Defra to help create and deliver a programme where we can reduce the likelihood and consequences of flooding in the area.

"We will also be working with local schools in the area to provide curriculum-approved lessons around the water cycle, sustainability and water management."

Six-year programme

In North East Lincolnshire, the council and its delivery partner Equans will work with Anglian Water on methods to be trialled.

The project will also involve the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water.

Flood defence work has already taken place in some parts of the region, including in South Ferriby which suffered extensive flooding in 2013.

And in January, a £400m plan to protect homes and businesses in South Yorkshire from future flooding was revealed.

However, according to an interactive map by Climate Central unveiled earlier this year, sea level rises could lead to parts of Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire being wiped out by 2090.

Andy Smith, Equans project lead on the North East Lincolnshire scheme, said: "The lessons we will gather from this six-year programme will be used to help inform future approaches for investment in flood and coastal risk management."