THE £17 million upgrade of York’s Foss Barrier and Pumping Station is on schedule to be fully operational by Boxing Day - the second anniversary of the 2015 flooding disaster.

And the Environment Agency has also confirmed that low level flood defence walls are to be built along vulnerable stretches of the river, such as parts of Huntington Road, to provide extra protection to properties.

Project manager Ian Saxelby said that by the end of the year, the eight powerful new pumps would be capable of pumping 50 tonnes of water per second out of the River Foss and into the River Ouse.

York Press:

That will be considerably more than the 40 tonnes per second which came down the Foss and overwhelmed the old pumps in 2015, leading to the flooding of hundreds of homes and businesses along the course of the river and its tributaries.

Mr Saxelby said power supplies to the station have been upgraded and, when fully operational and working at full capacity, the pumps, which weigh 6.5 tonnes each and had to be winched into place by crane, will use as much electricity as is consumed on average by about 1,200 homes.

He said: “Progress at the Foss Barrier is on schedule. The steel frame is complete and the new roof is almost finished.

“The focus in the coming weeks will be on constructing the internal walls to allow us to begin fitting out the building.”

Construction workers have been building a huge new building on top of the existing pumping station, in which key new control room equipment will be located - well above flood levels.

Operators sitting in the control room will have a fine view over the Foss, the barrier and the Ouse.

The tough steel barrier itself is in good condition and will remain in place but with an extra section in place to cope with any exceptionally high levels of water, in line with proposed flood defence improvements elsewhere on the rivers.

The mechanisms used for lowering and raising the barrier are almost 35 years old and will also be upgraded as part of the £17 million scheme.

Mr Saxelby said that while the new building would become operational during the winter, it would probably be next summer before all building works had been finished and temporary structures could be removed from the St George’s Field car park.

He said the new pumping station and barrier would get floodwaters out of the Foss and into the Ouse, and prevent floodwater from the Ouse backing up the Foss.

However there could still be local flooding along parts of the Foss as water poured into it after heavy rainfall, and some of the £45 million set aside for flood defence improvements in the next five years will be spent on low level flood walls along vulnerable stretches of the river, such as parts of Huntington Road.