Flood-prevent system to be built in Newcastle's Exhibition Park
A new drainage system will be built in a city park to help prevent flooding. Newcastle City Council approved installation of a basin system and repairs of drainage pipes in the north-west of Exhibition Park's boating lake.Flooding has caused issues on the city's Town Moor, including the cancellation of event LooseFest in 2023, and in 2012 run-off water from the space cascaded into Exhibition Park. It is hoped the drainage system will trap and store excess water to prevent the lake from bursting its banks during heavy downpours.
The council's planning committee unambiguously agreed to the plans, which involve excavating about 8,400m3 of soil for the basin. A 722ft-long (220m) drainage bund would trap and store excess water, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. The aim is to prevent water reaching areas like Brandling Park and surrounding homes.The council's report stated: "Brandling Park flood alleviation works were carried out, comprising raising the height of a wall and installation of two flood gates, resulting in surface water to be held within Brandling Park."
WATCH: Floods hit Newcastle's Town Moor
The report found that during heavy rainfall, water had the potential to flow on to Great North Road.It continued: "Due to this reason, and that the design of the proposal is considered to appear as a natural feature within the Town Moor, the proposed layout is considered acceptable."
In August 2023, up to 60,000 people were turned away from LooseFest as organisers said heavy rain had left the site unsafe for festival-goers.Meanwhile in 2012, run-off water from the sodden Town Moor cascaded into Exhibition Park, close to the Central Motorway.
Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
27-04-2025
- BBC News
Flood-prevent system to be built in Newcastle's Exhibition Park
A new drainage system will be built in a city park to help prevent flooding. Newcastle City Council approved installation of a basin system and repairs of drainage pipes in the north-west of Exhibition Park's boating has caused issues on the city's Town Moor, including the cancellation of event LooseFest in 2023, and in 2012 run-off water from the space cascaded into Exhibition Park. It is hoped the drainage system will trap and store excess water to prevent the lake from bursting its banks during heavy downpours. The council's planning committee unambiguously agreed to the plans, which involve excavating about 8,400m3 of soil for the basin. A 722ft-long (220m) drainage bund would trap and store excess water, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. The aim is to prevent water reaching areas like Brandling Park and surrounding council's report stated: "Brandling Park flood alleviation works were carried out, comprising raising the height of a wall and installation of two flood gates, resulting in surface water to be held within Brandling Park." WATCH: Floods hit Newcastle's Town Moor The report found that during heavy rainfall, water had the potential to flow on to Great North continued: "Due to this reason, and that the design of the proposal is considered to appear as a natural feature within the Town Moor, the proposed layout is considered acceptable." In August 2023, up to 60,000 people were turned away from LooseFest as organisers said heavy rain had left the site unsafe for in 2012, run-off water from the sodden Town Moor cascaded into Exhibition Park, close to the Central Motorway. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
13-04-2025
- BBC News
More than 400 sewage discharges into Humber in 2024
Sewage was discharged into the Humber for the equivalent of more than 200 days in 2024, according to data from the Rivers total number of sewage spills into waterways across England and Wales were down slightly from 2023, the figures showed.A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said the discharges were happening more than they would like, but said they were making progress on "reducing storm overflow activity" in the companies are allowed to spill sewage into waterways during heavy rainfall in order to prevent overflows and flooding. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the figures for sewage spills into the Humber were 474 in 2024:Hull Waste Water Treatment Works had 194 spills in 2024 lasting a total of 2,499 hours (the equivalent of 104 days) Melton works had 154 spills lasting a total of 1,868 hours (the equivalent of 78 days) North Ferriby works had 126 spills lasting a total of 669 hours (the equivalent of 28 days)Yorkshire Water said it had invested £3.4m to upgrade storm overflows in Brough and North Ferriby to reduce discharges into the River Humber. The upgrades there were part of the firm's £180m investment in the wider Shaw, CEO of Yorkshire Water, said: "We know overflows are operating more than we, or our customers, would like, but we're pleased to begin to show progress on reducing storm overflow activity in our region. "The reductions in discharges in 2024 resulted from both a drier year than 2023 and the hard work of our teams to deliver our £180m investment programme."In total, there were 563,730 spills across England and Wales in 2024, according to the figures from the Rivers Trust, which is an average of 1,544 a day. That figure is down slightly from 1,588 per day in environment secretary, Steve Reed, said the figures were "disgraceful" and were as a result of years of underinvestment."We've already placed water companies under tough special measures through the landmark Water Act, banning unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses and introducing criminal charges for lawbreakers," he said."But we will go further and faster. That's why this government has secured over £100bn of private sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure and not only clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good, but also help deliver economic growth across the country as part of our Plan for Change." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
26-03-2025
- BBC News
Godstone sinkhole: Families set to return home after evacuation
Residents affected by a sinkhole in Surrey are set to return home, a local authority has Allen, Surrey County Council's infrastructure team manager, said those impacted by the collapse in Godstone High Street could return to their homes this weekend. But he warned this depended on a "couple of issues" still under investigation, such as whether the water quality was up to the right standard. Mr Allen said the local authority was still trying to establish what caused the collapse in February, but "quite a lot of anomalies" had been found underground. He said a GPR survey, which involves sending radar pulses through the ground, had shown anomalies in the area. "We are calling them anomalies at the moment because until we investigate further, we don't actually know what they are," he said. Mr Allen suggested they could be a "series of tunnels under the road", "deep sewers", or "potentially soakways from properties". He said the council would continue its investigations over the coming weeks to determine what is happening underground. But he warned the work, involving specialist engineers and digging boreholes, could take "several months longer". Authorities declared a major incident after the ground opened up on Godstone High Street on 17 February, with police telling people living in William Way to "get out as quickly as possible" at the time. Some residents were previously told it could be up to a year before they could go home, while others were able to return. Tandridge District Council, which took over leading the operation, allocated up to £800,000 for temporary accommodation for up to 12 months, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
