Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has she made on upper catchment management schemes in the River (a) Foss and (b) Ouse.

Planned investment to help better protect York following flooding in 2015 is expected to be £100 million by the end of 2023, better protecting approximately 3000 homes and businesses from flooding. Investment to date is approximately £61 million, which has already better protected 2200 homes and businesses.

The River Foss Flood Storage Area (FSA) investment is approximately £17.5 million, better protecting 490 properties along the River Foss from flooding. The Foss FSA is 2km northeast of Strensall, and will hold 1,000,000m³ of water during extreme rainfall events, which will be released at a controlled rate once downstream river levels recede. It is scheduled for completion by winter 2023. In addition to improving flood protection, the scheme will create valuable new wetland habitats, including two shallow ponds. The banks of the River Foss will be reshaped to reduce the amount of sediment in the river to improve water quality. Once the scheme is built, some of the surrounding land can continue to be farmed and so will remain in productive use. The control structure has now been completed with over 660m³ or approximately 1600 tonnes of low carbon concrete poured. 85% of the embankment has been completed, although earthwork is now paused due to unworkable ground conditions. The remaining work will recommence in spring once the ground is suitable for the machinery.

City of York Council is leading the York and North Yorkshire Catchment Flood Risk Management project to take a long-term approach to managing flood risk throughout the Swale, Ure, Nidd and Ouse catchment, upstream of York. The project is funded as part of the Flood and Coastal Risk Innovative Resilience Programme. The five-year project includes several packages aimed at creating a legacy of natural flood management (NFM) in the catchment. The project will provide a better understanding of how changes in the catchment affect flood risk downstream, showing how NFM can help manage flood risk locally and engage with communities to understand different perspectives. The business case for the project was approved in August 2022, with partners and suppliers already engaged to deliver. Innovative catchment modelling has commenced in collaboration with local and national partner organisations. Grant agreements have been developed to support in providing advice to farmers and land managers and to manage a programme of NFM investment. A grant scheme to fund NFM measures in the catchment is currently under development and will be rolled out from April 2023.

Natural England, through the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) partnership, has been working in partnership with City of York Council to develop and deliver farm advice to achieve the outcomes set out in the York and North Yorkshire Catchment Management Project. This will build on the existing advice to farmers focused on improving soils for flood and resource management. This includes an additional farm adviser supported by City of York Council to deliver direct advice to farmers on flood and resource management measures. CSF will continue to run successful events for farmers across the catchment on the importance of healthy soils and combatting soil erosion, in partnership with Yorkshire Water, Rivers Trust and Yorkshire Dales National Park.