Late last year a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a new report on property development in flood risk areas that had been commissioned by Yorkshire Futures. My friend knew this would be of interest to me as both Calls Wharf and our sister serviced office, The Tannery, are both located close to the River Aire in Leeds.
The report (linked here) speaks of the legacy of industrial and residential property development located near or focussed around water in the Yorkshire and Humber region and therefore the regeneration tasks that we face as a region.
Key points are that in order not to jeopardise the viability of the redevelopment of these areas there needs to be a greater understanding of flood risk (the likelihood and impact over a range of flood events) and from that will come an acceptance of what residual flood risk is acceptable. We can then go about planning and designing developments with appropriate precautions for the remaining risks that are deemed unacceptable.
The implications of this risk based approach is that if there is, or has been, a significant investment in flood preparedness and defences, the degree of resilience measures necessary at site and plot level is greatly reduced. The sharing of risk mitigation between public and private measures and a partnership approach is key to this strategic level of flood risk reduction and requires continued funding.
Where the standard of flood defences is poor the majority of resilience must be provided at site or plot level, leading to heavily engineered measures and design and therefore unsustainable and unviable schemes that developers cannot and will not commit to. The likelihood of good, modern development to regenerate our waterside communities in these circumstances is very unlikely.
It is therefore with a little dismay that I read (link here) that Leeds, a supposed powerhouse of industry and commerce in the North of England yet that has no formal flood defences, has had funding pulled for the proposed £180 million Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme. Government cuts leading to a 41% reduction in the Environment Agency budget for this region has seen to that.
The implications of a large flood event in the city centre of Leeds is almost unthinkable and this, coupled with the withdrawing of funding for transport initiatives in Leeds, does make me wonder about the Government's commitment to Northern cities.
Fortunately, Calls Wharf and The Tannery have never experienced flooding, even in the extensive floods in 2007, and this post is not really about that. I am starting to wonder, however, about the depth of cuts being made and how our city is suffering or likely to suffer because of them.
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