Highways·Leeds flood alleviation scheme·—·Leeds flood alleviation scheme

Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme

£200m investment · 500,000 trees · moveable weirs (UK first) · 1-in-200-year protection to 2069

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Key insight

Moveable weirs have been activated 9 times since 2017. The NFM element is forecast to reduce peak flow in Leeds by 5.6% — demonstrating that nature-based upstream interventions deliver measurable downstream protection at city scale.

Transferability to UK: HighThe moveable weir approach, catchment-scale NFM, and partnership funding model are all directly replicable by UK local authorities and Environment Agency in oth

The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme provides 1-in-200-year flood protection for Leeds city centre and its rail and road network, combining moveable weirs (a UK first), 4.5km of flood walls, a 1.8 million m³ flood storage reservoir, and the UK's first catchment-scale Natural Flood Management programme with 500,000 trees planted upstream. Storm Eva in 2015 caused £500m in recovery costs — the business case for Phase 2.

Climate drivers

Heavy rainfallFlooding – fluvial

Impacts

→Water damage→Infrastructure disruption→Service delays

Adaptation measures

  • Moveable weirs
  • Flood walls and embankments
  • Flood storage reservoir (1.8M m³)
  • Natural Flood Management (NFM)
  • 500,000 trees over 1,240 hectares

Assets affected

Buildings and stationsRail trackRoad pavementRiver infrastructure

Investment

£200m (Phase 1 £50m; Phase 2 £150m+)

Band: £100m+

Delivery period

—

  • The area of Kirkstall Bridge in Leeds is regularly flooded by the River Aire , as well as many other places across the catchment . There is a 35% chance that disruptive flooding in this area will occur in any given year, which has caused significant disruption to the transport network serving West and North Yorkshire in recent years .
  • The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme (LFAS) was designed to reduce the risk of flooding to key transport infrastructure in Leeds, including the railway at Kirkstall which connects large parts of Yorkshire .
  • There has previously been regular disruption to rail travel across the region due to flooding , particularly during Storm Eva in 2015 and peak flows experienced during flood events in 2000 and 2007 . The flood in 2015 occurred before the construction work was completed and resulted in 4,712 flooding incidents being reported across the city (4,5) .

Ref: ID_12 · Leeds flood alleviation scheme · Curated & verified by HIVE

Transferability to UK: High

The moveable weir approach, catchment-scale NFM, and partnership funding model are all directly replicable by UK local authorities and Environment Agency in other flood-risk river cities. NFM is especially relevant where railway lines follow river valleys.

UK contexts

UK river city transport corridorsRail lines following river valleysYorkshire and northern England flood-risk networksLocal authority and Network Rail partnership schemes

Yorkshire & Humber

Transfer to other sectors (AI)