North Lincolnshire Council investing £13m to improve flood defences

Work will start as early as spring 2016.

Lincolnshire Lakes will be three times the size of Barton and the villages will link together through a network of lakes.

Work will start April 2016 to provide what’s known as ‘continuous piling’ of the right hand side of the River Trent Bank for 2.4 miles between the M180 motorway and Keadby Railway Bridge.

The council has recently completed a procurement exercise and has appointed Mott MacDonald to design the flood defence scheme. They have a track record of designing and building flood defences locally and nationally and were selected following a competitive procurement exercise between May and July 2015.

Site investigation works have been undertaken and preliminary designs are now being prepared.

The work follows a recent £2m scheme led by the Environment Agency to reinstate flood defences in Burringham.

Councillor Liz Redfern (pictured), NLC leader, said: “The Lincolnshire Lakes project is a huge investment that will transform the outskirts of Scunthorpe by creating six new self-sufficient villages. We have not seen anything on this huge scale before in North Lincolnshire.

“Five lakes are being delivered as part of the Lincolnshire Lakes project – the first lake is being delivered by the council in a £5m scheme that is currently being designed. This one kilometre by 100m lake will play host to a range of non-motorised leisure activities including canoeing, water skiing and snorkelling. It will also facilitate international-standard triathlons alongside other sporting activities. Work will start on constructing the lake in April 2016 and will be completed by 2018.

“It is important that the necessary flood defences are in place; this forms a key part of the Lincolnshire Lakes project.

“Residents need assurance that we are doing everything we can to help protect their homes and communities. We have invested £13m for the flood defence work and this will help prevent any future flooding into the new villages. It will also help improve flood defences for existing villages such as Burringham.

North Lincolnshire Council secured the £13m funding from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership as part of the government’s Local Growth Fund, awarded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Lincolnshire Lakes:

Total investment of the Lincolnshire Lakes project is £1.2bn; £610m for phase one

6,000 new homes will be built

Six new villages

Each village will be raised

Two new roundabouts and junction

Will link to Sustrans cycle network

Three new schools

New businesses

New leisure facilities including water sports e.g. triathlons

Each lake will have its own drainage system

Lincolnshire Lakes will be completed by 2028