A project to plant thousands of tree and hedgerow seedlings has started at a flood defence project in Castlehill, East Hull, to create new woodland habitat for local wildlife.
Residents and local community groups have been invited to take part in the tree planting programme to create 7 hectares of woodland habitat, and over 5 kilometres of new hedgerow, as part of a flood defence project to create an aquagreen to store floodwater east of the city.
Tree species such as field maple, downy birch, English oak, and black alder are being planted along with different species of willow for hedges and field rose, dog rose, guelder rose and blackthorn and hawthorn to create scrubland.
The planting programme started this week with a group of 20 volunteers planting hundreds of trees over three days.
Andrew Barron, flood risk advisor at the Environment Agency, said:
Woodland habitat holds high biological value and the new hedgerow planted across the site will promote a green corridor. We also plan on converting some of the arable land into open grassland which also has great biodiversity value and will be excellent habitat for many conservation priority species, such as skylarks, barn owls, and butterflies.
We had a great response from volunteers locally and will be doing more planting this month as part of our ambitions to create new woodland habitat as part of our flood defence work to better protect homes from the risk of flooding.
Species will be allowed to naturally recolonise areas to create a natural woodland with scrub and grassland fringes to support a diverse make up of species and is expected to reach maturity over 15 to 20 years.
The team has recently worked with children from Biggin Hill Primary School, launching a competition where pupils were asked to use produce drawings of what the castle at Castlehill and its inhabitants might have looked like in the past, as only the earthen mound now survives. This generated a lot of enthusiasm and artistic effort from the children, and the winning entry will be included in the design of interpretation boards for the site.
The Environment Agency is also working with local organisations to explore possibilities for an archaeological project as part of the scheme.
Plans for the overall aquagreen project, part of the Holderness Drain flood alleviation scheme were approved a year ago, and construction work on the project is now halfway through. The aquagreen will reduce flood risk to over 800 properties and key infrastructure in east Hull.
Once the scheme is completed, the aquagreen will be a versatile green space, south of the old Bransholme Dairy Farm, which will store excess water during a flood and then slowly release it back into the drainage system after the peak of the flood has passed.
Homes in North Carr and Sutton are currently at risk of flooding from water in the Holderness and Sutton Cross drains after heavy rain. The Holderness Drain is a man-made river channel. When it becomes full, water flows into Sutton Cross Drain, overwhelming the local drainage system and increasing the risk of flooding for homes in the area. This area narrowly avoided disaster in November 2019 when other parts of Hull were affected by flooding.
The 'aquagreen' is the second phase of the £28.5m Holderness Drain Flood Alleviation Scheme, and includes construction of the new East Hull Pumping Station.
Full details of the project can be viewed here: Holderness Drain Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS).
