A flood protection scheme which ultimately aims to reduce flooding risks for around 2,250 properties has received £2million for its first phase, from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
The £95million ‘Our City, Our River’ project – covering the wider Derby City and Pride Park areas along the River Derwent – will aim to:
- reduce flood risk to protect people, property and jobs;
- increase access to brownfield land for economic development, to maximise economic regeneration;
- promote tourism and leisure use of the riverside areas, including via new cycle-ways, with ecological, wildlife and biodiversity enhancements.
Derby City Council granted planning permission for the project at the end of 2015. The flood defence and regeneration project will benefit riverside areas near the Alfreton Road Industrial Estate, West Bank, Darley Abbey, North Riverside, the Pride Park business park, Chaddesden, Alvaston and extends to the site of the former Celanese Acetate works in Spondon. The work will be phased, between now and around 2022.
D2N2 has now approved £2m for Phase One (2015/16) – this stage is worth £15.6m in total – of the Our City Our River project.
Target benefits to be produced by Phase One include:
- 1,140 properties receiving better flood protection
- 16 hectares of brownfield land unlocked for development
- 510 homes built
- 700 associated jobs created.
Further investment in the project, also from D2N2’s Local Growth Fund, will be released for Stage Two of the project and further stages, only after an assessment shows that economic benefits will be realised from the earlier works. Up to £12million in D2N2 funding could go towards the whole project.
Derby City Council, the Environment Agency and Government are also funding partners in the project.
The main contractors for the construction of the flood defences for this phase of the project are Galliford Try and Black & Veatch Joint Venture (GBV) Ltd, who have already commenced initial works onsite.
Peter Richardson, Chairman of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Flooding is a recurring threat to homes and businesses, with terrible human and economic costs.
“Our City, Our River is a major scheme aiming to not only protect what is already there but also ‘unlocking’ opportunities for further commercial land development, including housing, and to enhance the project area’s attractiveness for tourism and leisure use. That is why D2N2 is making a significant investment in this project.”
Councillor Martin Rawson, Deputy Leader of Derby City Council and Cabinet Member for Communities and City Centre Regeneration, added: “I am delighted that the Our City Our River project has secured funding from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
“This funding will contribute to our objectives of protecting people and property from the risk of flood, while providing an opportunity for our riverside quarter to benefit from significant regeneration. We will see the city centre reconnected to the river, and reap the economic and social benefits associated with a vibrant and reinvigorated riverside community.”
For further information about the Our City, Our River project see its website at www.derby.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/planning/our-city-our-river.
Enquiries about the project can be directed to the Derby City Council project team on 01332 643488 or email: ocor@derby.gov.uk
More information about how the D2N2 LEP is using its £192m Local Growth Fund allocation to build infrastructure for economic growth across its area of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire can be found at web link www.d2n2lep.org/Growth/Local-Growth-Fund
For further information about this news release contact D2N2 LEP Communications Manager Sean Kirby on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
