Salisbury's £30m flood defence scheme takes shape

A barricade diverts the Avon while a new route is constructed

A new riverside park is taking shape in central Salisbury as a key part of the city's flood defences.

Wiltshire Council said the "critical" £30m scheme should help protect hundreds of homes from flooding while also enhancing the city centre.

Work below ground has already begun with the aim of diverting the flow of the Avon River.

Contractors are now preparing to construct new river banks which will be lined with flint.

A GPS-controlled digger levels out the new riverbed

Wiltshire Council leader Richard Clewer said: "There are houses and businesses at risk of flooding - this will protect them.

"It is really critical.

"This will turn the river frontage from something which really wasn't very appealing to a very attractive place," he added.

The park will be built over several tiers, designed to cope with being underwater in winter.

The engineering project is complex and not just because the route of the river is being altered.

The Environment Agency's Andy Wallis said the work was designed to bring far more wildlife to the centre of Salisbury

Diggers have unearthed Salisbury's old outdoor swimming pool as well as a century-old landfill site beneath the central car park which is being cleaned up.

"We've found a fantastic amount of old bottles and crockery but also we've had asbestos and other contaminants," said Andy Wallis, the project leader for the Environment Agency.

"It does make life a bit of a challenge but by doing all this work we've been able to clean up the area and create a much better habitat," he said.

While much of the work so far has been beneath ground level, the public are likely to notice the next phase around the central car park.

A new road bridge is about to be installed and the new banks of the river will start to show what this project will look like once completed in Spring 2024.