The Beverley Party has concerns over a new development of 1,000 houses to the south of the town.
Main concerns for the Beverley Party surround drainage and flood risk, the lack of affordable housing and the density of the development, which is not in keeping with the rest of the town.
Speaking to HU17.net a spokesman for the Beverley Party said;
“The Development is almost entirely within Flood Zone 1 so there is very little risk or river or sea flooding on this particular site, as opposed to much of the proposed development site to the south of the town, which is in Flood Zones 2 and 3.”
“Indeed the developers believe this is why this development was ‘brought forward’ by ERYC as there are less drainage problems.”
“However, that is not the whole story. A cursory look at Google maps and trips on the train to Hull reveal that much of the land near the railway line suffers from surface water (rainfall) flooding.”
“This was the cause of the catastrophic flooding in Beverley, the East Riding and Hull on June 25th 2007. This flooding resulted not from rivers bursting their banks but from rainfall that fell and collected in the Hull Valley because it could not be pumped away quick enough.”
“Much of the Hull Valley sits in a bowl and this area is no exception. In view of the deluge in 2007 many of the pumps pumping water from the drains into the (much higher) River Hull failed or were overwhelmed, this could happen again and this development is vulnerable in such events.”
Measures that have been proposed to deal with the positional risk of flooding were also questioned by the Beverley Party who voiced concerns over who would assume responsibility, they said;
“This development will have its own electric-powered pumping station taking water from the site and discharging it into the Beverley Parks Sewer and thence into the Beverley and Skidby Drain from where it is pumped into the River Hull.”
“Indeed, without this pumping, this development and much of Beverley would be underwater most of the time. The additional pumping will put extra strain on the existing pumps as more water will need to be pumped out to keep the houses (as opposed to cropland) dry.”
“It would appear that the developers do not wish to pay for the upkeep of the this new pumping station so they are proposing to pay a commuted sum to someone who will take over the running of it, i.e. Yorkshire Water, The Beverley and North Holderness Internal Drainage Board or a private management company.”
“In other words, once the houses are built, the developers want to walk away. It would seem that ERYC are happy with this proposal as they have had numerous pre-application meetings with the council.”
“The Beverley Party, remembering what happened with the pumps in 2007, are not happy about this as there is the same divided chain of command here that was one of the causative factors behind the flooding in 2007.”
“The responsibility for surface water flooding on the new estate will lie with the Lead Local Flood Authority (ERYC), whilst the pumps may belong to other organisations. When the inevitable happens and properties here flood, who will be held responsible? The developers? ERYC? Yorkshire Water/the Drainage Board? The Environment Agency?”
“Beverlonians need answers to these questions before any further development takes place.”
