£1.2 million flood prevention scheme to protect South Tyneside homes to to get underway in this month

The £1.2 million Cleadon Flood Alleviation Scheme will see measures implemented in the Cleadon Lea and Sunderland Road areas to help mitigate surface water flooding – when rainwater does not drain away or soak into the ground but lies or flows over the ground instead.

Work will start from Monday, June 29 and is expected to take around five months to complete.

Traffic management will be put in place while the work is carried out.

The scheme which is part funded by the Council, Environment Agency and the Department of Education, is being delivered following public consultation and working closely with landowners in the area.

It involves creating an embankment and an area north of the Cleadon Lea estate to catch overland flows from the nearby fields.

Following a consultation event in March, the plans for the embankment to be extended were incorporated into the final scheme.

The area will also be planted with wetland wildflowers, helping to create a valuable new wildlife habitat.

The plans also include improvements to drainage ditches at West Hall Farm to increase the capacity for surface water.

This will help to reduce the amount of water entering the drainage system on Sunderland Road.

Councillor Joan Atkinson, Lead Member for Area Management and Community Safety at South Tyneside Council, said: “We know only too well the impact of flooding on people and property. During periods of heavy rainfall, surface water flows have the potential to cause severe damage to homes and businesses, causing a great deal of devastation and disruption.

“We are delighted that work will soon get underway to reduce the risk of flooding in the Cleadon area. This scheme is of huge importance to the local community.

“While it is never possible to guarantee that an area will remain flood free, we can certainly work with our partners to increase the level of protection through long-term sustainable schemes such as this. These new measures will go a long way in helping to improve the area’s resilience to flooding in future by better controlling the flow of surface water as well as providing reassurance for local residents and business owners.”

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South Tyneside Council has appointed civil engineers Bam Nuttall and designers Royal Haskoning DHV to deliver the scheme at both locations. Simon Wilson, from the Flood and Coastal Risk Management Team at the Environment Agency, has also been involved in the project throughout.

He said: “This scheme has been a long time in the planning and I’m really pleased that work is about to start. We understand how distressing it is to be flooded and hopefully this brings some reassurance to the community, which has suffered from surface water flooding in the past.”

The Cleadon Flood Alleviation Scheme is just one of a series of projects delivered over recent years to help reduce the risk of flooding across the Borough.

Previous flood alleviation work has included schemes in the Monkton and Hebburn South areas and Fellgate in Jarrow.

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