FIFTEEN areas of the district badly hit by last year’s Boxing Day floods have been identified as priorities for flood prevention work as part of the Bradford Flood Programme.

The Environment Agency and Bradford Council have drawn up the list of locations for more work to be done or detailed investigations to be carried out.

It includes Silsden Beck, Esholt, Apperley Bridge, Worth Village, Masons Mill in Shipley, and Baildon Bridge in Otley Road.

Other areas in Baildon identified are Aire Close, Glenaire Court and Lower Holme.

In Bingley they are Castlefields Lane, Old Main Street, Wagon Lane and Ash Grove.

And in Shipley, they are Branksome Drive in Nab Wood and Hirst Mill in Saltaire.

Councillor Michael Ellis (Con, Bingley Rural), who is the Council’s representative on the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, said: “What we have got are 15 serious areas that were affected and that is why it has taken so long to find out what happened and the reasons why it happened.

“We have got to do what we can to make sure a similar situation to last year does not happen again.”

The report states that debris has already been cleared from waterways at the 15 locations, some of which has been carried out in partnership with the Aire Rivers Trust stewardship project.

Surface water modelling, a computer-based programme predicting where surface water will flow in the event of heavy rainfall, will also take place.

Residents and businesses in affected areas have been handed Flood Resilience and Community Engagement information packs.

The report states more than £1.7 million has been approved for work to repair existing flood risk infrastructure in the district following the floods.

The Council and the Environment Agency has secured £850,000 of Local Levy funding for the Bradford Flood Programme.

A Wharfe Flood Partnership, which includes Bradford, Leeds, North Yorkshire Council and Yorkshire Water, will be set up to manage risks along the River Wharfe.

MORE TOP STORIES