Our story
Large areas of Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire were badly flooded in July 2007 following heavy rainfall, with thousands of homes and businesses inundated. The North Carr and Sutton areas, on the eastern side of Hull, were particularly affected by these floods.
Following this traumatic event, MPs, local authorities and local people campaigned for more investment in flood protection. In response to this, the Environment Agency has continued to work with partners to find ways to reduce flood risk in Hull and the surrounding area. A range of different options were considered for the Holderness Drain catchment.
The need to do something became more urgent as the old pumping station in East Hull built in 1949 to help to pump high water flows had reached the end of its working life and needed to be replaced.
In autumn 2020, we carried out a public consultation to gather feedback on our proposals for the Castlehill Aquagreen. In spring and summer 2021, we continued to develop designs for the aquagreen following feedback responses from the consultation. This led to some revisions of the earlier scheme proposals, to include additional work on several drains within the scheme boundaries.
In November 2021, we submitted a successful application for planning consent for the Castlehill Aquagreen to both Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
In August 2024, the Castlehill Aquagreen was completed as part of the £28M Holderness Drain Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) and will store water under flood conditions and release it slowly into the Holderness Drain.
Our advice
Take a whole catchment perspective: The Holderness Drain catchment covers an area of low lying agricultural land which drains water from the Yorkshire Wolds through to the Humber Estuary, on the eastern side of Hull. Managing water in this catchment is particularly difficult as the land is flat and often below sea level at high tide. This means that water in the Holderness Drain empties into the Humber very slowly and needs to be assisted by pumping stations along the way. After periods of heavy rainfall, water levels in the Drain can remain high for many days, posing a risk of flooding to homes and businesses within the catchment.
Be flexible in finding better solutions: The scheme plans have been changed, as we found an alternative way of reducing flood risk. Revising our original design means that we no longer need to dig a new drain across the site, or create additional depressions for water storage. The site will still function as a flood storage area but hold water across a wider area. The revised proposals have an estimated 50% lower carbon impact (800 tonnes) than the original design would have had. This together with the associated landscaping proposals, supports the Environment Agency's ambition to reach Net Zero by 2030.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the number of homes, businesses and area of land that will benefit from the scheme (870, 116, 1800 hectares, respectively) and by the reduced flood risk, associated costs and stress to everyone who could be impacted.
