ENVIRONMENT chiefs have unveiled a multi-million pound scheme to protect 150 properties near York’s River Ouse from another devastating flood.

The project in the Clementhorpe area is the first of at least 10 schemes being planned across the city using £45 million pledged to York by the Government after the December 2015 floods.

It should finally save residents in streets such as River Street and Lower Darnborough Street from the threat of being inundated again, as happened when the Ouse burst its banks in 2000, 2012 and 2015.

Environment Agency project manager Vikki McCausland said the defences will run from Skeldergate bridge to where the riverside cyclepath turns up to Bishopthorpe Road near the former Terry’s factory.

It will involve a double line of defences. Existing flood walls along the front of properties in Terry Avenue will be heightened and a demountable flood gate installed at the bottom of Clementhorpe.

An underground barrier will also be created with poured concrete or metal sheet piles under a section of Terry Avenue, to prevent water from the Ouse travelling underground and rising on the far side of the demountable barrier.

There will also be flood embankments and walls behind a caravan site in Terry Avenue and Rowntree Park to protect properties in streets off Bishopthorpe Road, such as Butcher Terrace.

If all goes well, work could start by this time next year, but first the Environment Agency is to stage a consultation with local residents, beginning with an event at Clementhorpe Community Centre between 2pm and 8pm next Monday. Plans will be on display and officials on hand to talk to residents.

Meanwhile, a second scheme is also being drawn up to protect homes just across the Ouse from Clementhorpe in a series of streets leading down to New Walk, such as Alma Terrace.

A consultation event about this scheme will take place between 2pm and 7pm on Monday December 4 at the Christian Science Church in Fulford Road.

In the New Year, there will also be a public drop-in on plans being drawn up for defences in a third area of York - the section of the Ouse between North Street and Scarborough Bridge.