AN AMENDED plan for Otley’s flood defence scheme has been lodged.

Leeds City Council recently confirmed that work on the £3.3 million project is on course to start in the autumn. The proposals - which include creating an embankment from Otley Bridge to Newall Mount on land west of Billams Hill - were approved earlier this year.

The amendment in the new application refers to ‘changes to the sheet piling extent within the proposed flood embankment and the inclusion of stone pitching on a small section of the embankment surface adjacent to Otley Bridge’.

Referring to the scheme as a whole, the application describes the ‘development of a Flood Alleviation Scheme comprising the construction of an embankment with a 1 in 3 gradient and adjoining flood wall; removal of a wall within a Conservation Area; realignment of Kell Beck and associated landscaping and vehicle access on the former cattle market.”

The council issued an update on the project in July. It said: “Following consideration of wildlife breeding seasons and taking into account some inevitable delay brought by COVID-19, we are hopeful for an early autumn start.”