'Urgent need' for flood defences

The Environment Agency estimates that 3,700 homes are at risk

The risk of flooding in Leeds is increasing every year and it is essential the city is given £100m for defences, the Environment Agency says.

There are no flood defences on the River Aire and there have been several incidents of flooding in recent years.

The Environment Agency (EA) has drawn up plans for flood defences.

But even if the government agrees to fund the scheme, the EA said talks with the council and landowners meant work could not start until at least 2011.

On Thursday it will be exactly two years since torrential rain caused massive floods across Yorkshire. In Sheffield, two people were killed and dozens more were trapped in buildings and cars by rising flood waters.

Paul Hudson, Climate Correspondent, BBC Yorkshire There can be no doubt about the serious risk that Leeds faces in the coming years. But you can only really see the problem the city faces by taking a journey up the river in a boat like I did - and it becomes very obvious why the Environment Agency is so worried. A hundred years ago much of the riverside was flood plain meadow, but huge development of the riverside has eaten up this natural flood defence, making the city and its residents vulnerable to flooding. Take for example Brewery Wharf. A one in 200 year flood would take the river level two metres higher than the current river bank wall; with more rainfall expected as a result of our changing climate another half metre can be added on top of that. And because so much of the riverside in now concrete and buildings, there is simply nowhere for the water to go. Owners of many of the restaurants and flats along the river welcome the moves to build a flood defence. But the Environment Agency wants the defence to run for 19km and include areas such as Kirkstall, where some residents think a flood barrier would give a green light to developers who would see more protected land to build on. And then there's the cost. £100m of taxpayers money would be needed, on what would be the Environment Agency's largest project. An awful lot of money in the current economic climate.

Martin Slater, the EA's development manager, told BBC News: "The rain that hit Sheffield in the summer of 2007, at one point it was heading for the catchment of the River Aire so if that rain had fallen upstream of Leeds what we saw in Sheffield could have happened in Leeds."

Mr Slater said the risk of flooding in Leeds was increasing every year because of increased rainfall through climate change.

He said a major flood would have "serious consequences" for the city.

"It could affect over 3,700 households, over 700 businesses and over 100,000 commuters could be trapped in the city if the railway station has to close because of impacts on the electricity supply," Mr Slater said.

He said the project was "enormously complex" and the EA was having to negotiate with Leeds City Council and at least 120 landowners over the technicalities and the visual impact of the scheme.

"At the moment we are looking at a cost of about £100m, it could be a bit more than that, it almost certainly won't be less," he said.

Environment secretary Hilary Benn, the MP for Leeds Central, said the consequences of a major flood in Leeds "do not bear thinking about".

He told BBC News: "I attach the utmost importance to this scheme...because I know how hard it would hit my constituents."

Mr Benn said he could not guarantee that the scheme would win government approval or funding but the government was increasing its spending on flood defences.

He added: "We wouldn't be doing the work with the Environment Agency and all of the hard work that they have put in if we didn't realise the seriousness of this and I take the protection of my constituents very seriously indeed."

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Leeds flood scheme 'needs £100m'