Nottingham Trent Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme
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NOTTINGHAM TRENT LEFT BANK FLOOD ALLEVIATION SCHEME DESIGN AND ACCESS STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED FLOOD DEFENCE WORKS IN ATTENBOROUGH, EREWASH AND RYLANDS BEING SUBMITTED AS PART OF THE PLANNING APPLICATION TO BROXTOWE BOROUGH COUNCIL FINAL VERSION OCTOBER 2008 Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. SCHEME BACKGROUND 3 3. ATTENBOROUGH, EREWASH AND RYLANDS 5 4. ALIGNMENT OPTIONS CONSIDERED FOR THE STRAND 7 5 PLANNING POLICY 9 6. USE 10 7. AMOUNT 10 8. LAYOUT 10 9. SCALE 10 10. LANDSCAPE DESIGN 11 11. APPEARANCE 12 12. ACCESS AND INCLUSIVITY 12 13. SUMMARY 13 Environment Agency Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement 1. INTRODUCTION This Design and Access Statement (D&AS) accompanies a planning application for the elements of the Nottingham Trent Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) in the Broxtowe Borough Council area which require planning permission. The D&AS has been written to meet the requirements of Article 4C of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 (as amended). The format of this statement is guided by the requirements of Circular 01/2006 and “Design and Access Statements: How to write, read and use them” (CABE, 2006). In keeping with best practise the statement aims to be concise, whilst focusing on the key elements necessary to understand what is being proposed, how it fits into the site context, how it relates to planning policy for the area and what it will look like. In this way, the D&AS is intended to be a useful tool to assist consultees and decision-makers in formulating a recommendation. 2. SCHEME BACKGROUND Nottingham has a long history of flooding with notable events occurring in 1795, 1875 and 1947 and currently some 22,000 properties within the city are at risk of flooding. The present defences were constructed during the 1950s. In 2003 the Environment Agency embarked on a series of studies to investigate flood risk along a 200km length of the River Trent, between Stoke on Trent and Newark. It included a technical, environmental and economic appraisal of a number of options to reduce the flood risk. A final report on the study was issued in 2005. In summary, the principal findings were that: • the flood defences through Nottingham provide a relatively low standard of protection and some are in poor condition; • raising existing defences or the building of new defences, as appropriate, is the preferred option; • the best value for money would be achieved by protecting properties against a flood with a 1% (1 in 100) annual probability of occurrence; • there is considerable opportunity for environmental enhancement and improvement to leisure and recreation facilities along the river frontage. In response to these findings the Environment Agency commissioned the Nottingham Trent Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) to appraise, and ultimately improve, flood protection along the River Trent’s left bank. The FAS included inspections of the existing defences, topographic surveys, ground investigations, computer modelling of the river, economic analyses and a review of options. The work confirmed that the standard of protection of the existing defences was low in places and that some of them are approaching the end of their useful life. Subsequently, a business case has been approved by the Environment Agency to undertake works to raise existing defences and, where required, construct new defences to protect 16,000 homes and businesses on the left bank of the River Trent against a flood with a 1% (1 in 100) annual probability of occurrence. Since then work has been ongoing to establish an outline design for the works along the left bank of the River Trent and along the lower reaches of the River Erewash near to where it joins the River Trent. During that time, considerable effort has been made to keep local residents and both statutory and non-statutory consultees involved in the decision making process. Environment Agency Page 3 Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement The final alignment chosen is considered to be the best route possible having taken account of government policy, the consultation process, planning guidance and the many significant local constraints. In April 2007 we published proposals for the Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS and made two applications for planning permission, one to Broxtowe Borough Council and the other to Erewash Borough Council. In June 2007 we received planning permission from Erewash Borough Council. In November 2007 new information became available through the Greater Nottingham Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. This information has improved the accuracy of our flood predictions and this has resulted in some changes to the scheme. At the same time as we made our planning applications to Erewash and Broxtowe Borough Councils in April 2007 we also published an ES. We have revised the document from April 2007 to produce a further ES for our current proposals. The 27km length of the River Trent under consideration passes through the areas of four LPAs. The scheme has been split into four scheme areas which correspond to the LPA boundaries as illustrated in Figure 1. It is important to understand that the whole of the left bank of the River Trent through Nottingham is what is termed, a single flood cell. This means that flood waters entering at its upstream end could, in theory, flood the whole cell. Therefore, only upon completion of the entire works will all of the flood cell be protected. Figure 1: Extent of the Nottingham Trent Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme Environment Agency Page 4 Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement 3. ATTENBOROUGH, EREWASH AND RYLANDS Figure 2 shows the layout of the scheme within Broxtowe Borough Council’s area of jurisdiction. It consists of the Attenborough, Erewash and Rylands districts, and also indicates where works are proposed. Of these works only the elements detailed in Table 1 require planning permission. Figure 2: Broxtowe Borough Council area of Nottingham Trent Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme consisting of the Attenborough, Erewash and Rylands districts In the Erewash area there are currently only isolated sections of existing flood defences and the proposed works are required to prevent the River Trent from backing up the River Erewash and flooding properties within the scheme’s defended flood cell. It is important to note that the proposed works within Erewash are designed to prevent flooding from the River Trent. The reduction of flood risk from the River Erewash will be an additional benefit to this primary purpose. The Attenborough area consists mainly of the Attenborough Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Nature Reserve (Attenborough SSSI), Attenborough Village, the Cemex Works to the north of the village and the Long Lane residential area of Beeston. The village of Attenborough currently has no formal flood defences. A railway embankment acts as the flood defence for the communities of Long Eaton and Beeston but only protects against a flood with a 4% annual probability of occurrence. Rylands is immediately downstream from the Attenborough SSSI. Currently flood protection in the Rylands area is provided by a combination of high ground and formal defences adjacent to the Siemens industrial site, but the existing flood defences in the vicinity of Beeston Lock do not provide flood protection against the flood event with a 1% annual probability of occurrence. Environment Agency Page 5 Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement Throughout the overall scheme design process the choice between the construction of a new flood embankment or flood wall considered the surrounding landscape along with its current and proposed use. An embankment can be less intrusive in a semi-rural or rural setting than a wall and access to an area is easier to maintain with an embankment. In developed or industrial areas or where space is limited, a wall may be more suitable and, indeed, may be the only practical solution. For example, the residential properties on Nottingham Road adjacent to Manor Garage in the Erewash district will be protected by a new flood wall. The area required by an embankment would have meant that the residents would have lost a considerable portion of their gardens. By contrast, in Attenborough, consultation with landowners indicated that the land to the east of St. Mary’s Church is the site of the annual village fete and is of valuable recreational use. In this case an embankment is much more suitable because the land will still be able to be used for the fete as access will be maintained. Table 1: Scheme elements requiring planning permission Area Reach Proposed Works Erewash 3 „ Section of new embankment between properties on A6005 Nottingham Road and Chilwell Retail Park. 2 „ Several lengths of new embankment around Toton Waste Water Treatment Works. Attenborough 5/6 • Short section of Barton Lane to be raised. 6 • Short section of flood wall (2m high) around the new flapped outfall and culvert between Barton Lane and Attenborough. 7 • New flood wall to the south of St Mary’s Church. 7 • New embankment in the field next to St Mary’s Church. 8 • A pumping station, with kiosk, at the south western corner of The Strand. 8 • New flood wall along the full length of The Strand. 10 • Flood wall along the railway north of Attenborough including the area around the new headwall (greater than 2m high in places). 6 - 10 • Compensation works in the Attenborough SSSI. Rylands 12 „ Length of flood wall to the west of Riverside Road. 12 „ New section of embankment to tie in with existing embankment at Riverside Road. Environment Agency Page 6 Nottingham Trent Left Bank FAS Design and Access Statement 4.