A FLOOD defence scheme planned for Germany Beck and to protect the A19 at Fulford has taken a step forward.

The Environment Agency is looking at measures to better protect the area - and has come up with a £4.9 million scheme.

Fordlands Road experienced flooding in February, with 4x4 vehicles used to access homes and help residents.

And a pump was used to remove surface water from the A19 during the month - when York saw the worst flooding since the Boxing Day floods of 2016, according to the council.

The A19 was not directly flooded thanks to recently built defences - but would have been closed on three occasions in February had the works not taken place.

A council meeting heard funding has not yet be secured for the new flood defence plans - but Cllr Paula Widdowson agreed that work should be carried out on designing the project and securing permissions, including planning, so the council will then have a better understanding of the construction costs and be able to apply for available funding.

The council has £1.5 million available for flooding projects and the money will be put towards developing the Germany Beck Scheme.

“We are confident as we move this scheme forward that we will be able to secure funding from a number of sources. It’s still a risk at this moment in time as we do not have the full funding,” said Steve Wragg, flood risk manager at the council.

He added: “The community would really like to see this scheme in place.”

Cllr Widdowson added: “We know that the residents need it. [The current support] certainly cost us a lot of time, money and resources this year.

“We know the residents require it and we know we need to keep the A19 open, so let’s look into it and take it forward.”

A report outlines options for a defence and consultants have “identified a preferred option that isolates high river levels in the River Ouse from Germany Beck and tunnel drain, a pumping station would maintain lower river levels in these watercourses protecting the local roads and properties from flooding”.

Flooding in the Fordlands area is caused by tunnel drain not being able to flow when river levels are high in the Ouse and Germany Beck.

It can leave residents stranded and only able to access their homes by boat or 4x4, although the report says people’s properties are not affected by flooding.

A resilience scheme on the A19 Fulford Road built by the contractors working on the Germany Beck development prevented major flooding of the route in February.