Flood defences 'worth weight in gold', says victim

A dentist whose practice has seen repeated flooding said a long-awaited scheme to protect properties in a market town would be "worth its weight in gold".

Nicola Eades has seen her business on Bridge Street in Tadcaster devastated by flood water over the past 13 years.

A public consultation has now been launched after the Environment Agency (EA) submitted multimillion-pound plans to North Yorkshire Council to build defences.

Ms Eades said it had “felt a long time coming” and that she and many other residents in the town “cannot wait for this to happen”.

The EA said work on the raised defences, which would feature banks and stone steps, could start in spring 2025 and be completed by late 2026.

Tadcaster was badly affected by floods at Christmas in 2015, when the swollen River Wharfe washed away the town’s 18th-Century bridge.

The town also suffered flooding in 2017 and 2022 when the river overtopped the defences and flooded the town centre.

Looking out onto Bridge Street from the reception area of her dental practice, Ms Eades said she remembered being “chest deep in water” in the room.

“To have water rushing through your building is just horrific,” she said.

“You get that flood warning now and the thoughts rewind back to 2015 and into 2016.

"They are certainly memories that I would love to erase, but it will be part of my life and my family’s life forever.”

Ms Eades said the cost of insurance for the building had been “astronomical” because of the flooding risk.

“We are lucky to have insurance for this year,” she said.

“We only got it back just last year but with a great big excess.”

David Gluck, chair of the Tadcaster Flood Defence Alliance (TFDA), said the defences would allow more businesses to access insurance and therefore help to fill many of the empty buildings on Bridge Street.

He said: “There is no doubt about it, people will feel protected and safe again and every time the heavens open they will not think, 'my shop, my house is going to flood'.”

Kirsty Poskitt, who represents Tadcaster on North Yorkshire Council, said the defences scheme had been talked about since the 2015 flood.

“I’ve been there with these families who have faced hideous flooding and businesses who have lost their livelihoods,” she said.

“It has been a long time coming.

“It is not just about protecting properties, obviously that is the key thing, but it is also about the regeneration and economic survival of the town.”

Nick Appleyard from the EA said it had been “really challenging” to get the scheme to this point for a number of reasons, including funding constraints and the Covid pandemic.

He said: “The current project team came together mid-2022 and have made some significant progress over the past two years, with a really big, tangible milestone reached in the project.

“We fully recognise that flooding has lingered over the town for far too long now and we’ve built a lot of relationships with those businesses, councillors and people around the town."

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