Posted on June 20, 2016
The Environment Agency is due to spend between four and five weeks dredging the river in Cockermouth.
It will start work in the next fortnight and plans to remove gravel from the River Derwent upstream and downstream of Gote Bridge.
The area will be fenced off for public safety.
The Environment Agency has agreed to give some of the gravel to the town council, which is planning how best to repair the Memorial Gardens, which were damaged in the December floods.
An agency spokesman said: “The Environment Agency monitors gravel levels throughout Cumbria on a regular basis, and after extreme weather events, to ensure that they do not build to a point where the risk of flooding to people and properties is increased.
“The Environment Agency undertook a survey, used to identify and map the contours of the gravel, to understand the impact. The gravel levels are assessed against ‘trigger levels’ that are defined to manage flood risk.
“The Environment Agency uses hydraulic modelling to define these trigger levels.
“Recent survey work has shown that these ‘trigger levels’ have been reached and that is why we will be working on the River Derwent.”
Town councillors will meet with Ian Creighton, of the West Cumbria Rivers Trust, on Wednesday for a site visit at the gardens, before convening to the town hall to discuss the way forward.
Source: Times & Star
