Council hopes proposed new wetland nature reserve will ease flood risk for scores of Grimsby properties

                                           

Council hopes proposed wetland reserve on allotments site will attract birds such as curlew

A NEW wetland nature reserve is on the cards for Grimsby.

Plans are afoot to create a habitat for wading birds, amphibians and dragonflies on an abandoned part of the Saltings allotments site off Littlefield Lane.

North East Lincolnshire Council has deemed this a sensible idea given that "approximately 50 per cent  of the allotment plots have been permanently lost to groundwater flooding".

The work could cost as much as £2-million, but it will be funded via a Defra flood resilience scheme.

There will be a cost to NELC because it has been tasked with managing the reserve assuming the scheme is approved by the authority's cabinet at a meeting next week.

In the short term, the project could provide a welcome revenue boost for the contractor - hopefully a local firm - that is selected to carry out the works.

An important spin-off of the scheme is that, by holding rainwater,  it could reduce groundwater flood risk for scores of  homes in the Littlefield Lane and Chelmsford Avenue area by taking pressure off the overloaded sewerage network..

Says a report to next Wednesday's cabinet meeting: "Groundwater issues in Grimsby are likely to be impacting hundreds of properties.

"Groundwater can be in the sub-floor space without residents being aware. 

"Poor underfloor ventilation can then lead to deterioration of the floor timbers due to the presence of water."

The treport continues:  "As well as the threat to property, there is the impact on the local sewerage network. 

"At the Chelmsford Avenue water works, to help  minimise flood risk to adjacent property, groundwater is pumped into the combined sewer network.

"Also, the flooded area of the Saltings currently drains into the sewer network. This is putting significant base loads into the network which results in reduced capacity and increased flood risk during heavy rainfall." 

Regarding the creation of a wetland reserve to hold the water, the report states: "It is intended to open the site to public access, allowing residents of the borough to benefit from visiting an area designed to nurture nature and provide habitat to many different species of flora and fauna. 

"The wetland could also provide opportunities for the education of the public and local school pupils about wetland and groundwater science and the role the wetland plays in flood risk protection."

The report goes on: "Improvements to the nearby Kingston Gardens will also be carried out. 

"This is a council owned wooded area to the west of the Chelmsford Avenue waterworks, and the council's  ecology team would like to see it improved through vegetation clearance and the de-silting of the two blow wells on the site. 

"A blow well is feature unique to Lincolnshire and is where significant volumes of groundwater can flow to the surface due to the pressures in the aquifer rock deep underground. 

"The pressure of the groundwater emerging from a blow well is entirely dependant on the amount of rainfall in the preceding few months. 

"A lot of rainfall increases groundwater pressure, whereas low levels of rainfall reduces pressure, sometimes to the point of  the well drying up for a period."

More information about the ambitious project is likely to be released later this spring.