EA work will mean big changes for Todmorden
MAJOR work will be carried out on Rochdale Road and in Todmorden town centre to increase the level of protection against flooding.
Phase three of the Todmorden flood defence scheme will involve construction of a flood wall from the culvert at Shade School down to the bottom of the Morrisons car park.
Alterations will be made to the access for customers and delivery vehicles at the supermarket.
Work will also be carried out within the watercourse and the culvert roof behind the market will be strengthened.
The Environment Agency said the work will protect the town from a one in 33 year flood.
Project manager Neil Ryan said that is the highest standard of protection it could provide against Walsden Water and it would reduce the flood risk to roughly 658 properties.
During a presentation to Todmorden town council's development committee, Mr Ryan said: "We are extremely limited for opportunities as to how we can provide flood defences in an area like this due to the steepness of the valley and the narrow valley bottom.
"To protect against a one in 50 year flood, we would have to have a much higher wall along Rochdale Road."
Mr Ryan said that one in 33 year protection is the best the EA can do because it has to consider economics, the height of the flood wall, the sight lines on the road and technical issues.
"We can't guarantee that the town will never flood again," he said. "What we can do is protect it as best as we can."
After being put on hold in 2007 due to financial constraints, funding for the third phase of the project was made provisionally available for 2011.
Mr Ryan said a funding review will take place in October, after which he hopes the money will be released for the project to go ahead.
"There will be a big bit of work for us to do on the box culvert underneath the market," Mr Ryan said.
"The culvert is not in a very good condition at the moment.
"There has been significant deterioration.
"The culvert will have to be replaced.
"We would have to lift the area behind the sheds up, replace the culvert and put a lid back on it.
"It would improve the amount of protection to the town from flooding.
"We will talk to the traders as they will have some level of disruption, hopefully minimal."
Flood defence and landscaping work will take place on the grassed area by Darwin House to raise the banks.
The scheme will involve extensive engineering works on Rochdale Road but Mr Ryan said the EA will speak to the contractors to minimise disruption.
He said that a permanent solution to flooding problems by the railway bridge in Walsden has not yet been identified but some short term measures will be put in place to alleviate the problem.
The EA will visit residents and businesses in the coming months to speak to them about how the proposed work will be implemented.
Various stakeholder meetings will be held in the coming months and regular newsletters will be produced to keep people informed of the scheme's progress.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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