River Dearne Flood defence?

[NickLynch]

I would like to show my concerns, as a regular Dearne angler, of the tree cutting thats currently taking place. The problem came to my attention from Barnsleyandy on the forum, but I only recently witnessed the extent of the cutting on a fishing trip to the Broomhill stretch in early February. It seems the fish habitats have no importance to the people responsible. I'd hate to think what would be said if the fluffy rabbits and foxes were affected.

So I must ask, is it correct that this extreme cutting back of trees and vegetation is for flood defence only?

[musselman]

I'm pretty sure that the removal of bankside vegetation, in particular trees is to reduce the risk of 'natural dams' forming from the debris that is washed downstream during flood conditions. When these build up they can cause huge volumes of water to back-up and in the event of their failure, this water can surge downstream causing severe damage. In effect you can have a wall of water sweeping away everything in its path. The 'smoother' the river banks, the more efficient they are at disposing of the water they carry. Unfortunately their removal does destroy habitats but is the price we have to pay for flood alleviation. There are no doubt cases where this is taken too far and a greater dialogue is needed between interested parties to ensure that its impact is limited.

[NickLynch]

Does this mean all the 'natural damns' will eventually be removed from all the banks of the river Dearne?
All this to avoid someones kitchen flooding seems a bit extreme.

[barnsleyandy]

Im off to a meeting of the Dearne Steering group this week. Neil Longden of the EA should be there. will press him on the subject this week.

andy

[envagencyyorkshire]

To ensure we are managing flood risk to people and property we carry out regular maintenance of our watercourses. Part of this work includes tree management. When we do this we consult with those it may impact; we ensure we discuss the work with technical officers in our Fisheries and Biodiversity teams and endeavour to contact external parties who may also be impacted.

We have carried out work from Darfield to Old Moor to remove obstructions to flow and large unstable trees (which could fall into the river and cause blockages). These works, from Darfield to Knoll Beck (including Knoll Beck its self) took place between 16 January and 17 February. The only section of these works that hasn’t been completed is through the Old Moor nature reserve. The plan is to start this section in September after the bird nesting season.

After the work through Old Moor there will be ongoing maintenance of trees along the river Dearne but there are no large scale works planned at the moment.

The trees we remove are normally on the bank or in the water. Occasionally we may have to remove trees on the flood bank if their root growth is destabilising the flood bank. If we have a specific location of tree removal not on the river bank, we can provide more details as to why the tree was removed.
When we carry out flood risk management work, we also have to ensure that we comply with environmental legislation. This legislation requires us to carry out assessments to ensure that the work we do will not impact the ecology, chemistry, biology or the morphology (form and function) of the watercourse. We are currently developing projects that improve the morphology of many of our modified rivers to ensure that habitats are retained or improved.

To carry out this maintenance we employ contractors who specialise in tree work, including qualified tree surgeons. Through the consultation we carry out, we agree a specification for the work, which our contractors then follow. As the work is carried out in the winter it often looks more severe than it does in spring and summer.

Philip Crosby
Operations Delivery