WORK has started on a £2.5 million project to protect more than 100 homes from flooding in a village near York, almost 21 years after it suffered devastated flooding.

The Environment Agency says the Flood Alleviation Scheme in Bishopthorpe will reduce the risk of flooding to 117 homes and businesses.

“It will provide a continuous line of defence against flooding from the River Ouse, with climate change impacts accounted for,” said a spokeswoman.

Numerous properties in the village downstream of York were inundated, including Bishopthorpe Palace, when the Ouse reached record heights in November 2000, following almost a week of heavy rainfall in the Dales catchment.

Funding for the new defences was only agreed after the floods of late 2015, which Bishopthorpe escaped relatively unscathed.

Construction work started in the first week of May 2021, since when a construction site compound has been built and Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam close to where the new flood wall will be built has been removed, said the spokeswoman.

Staff have also removed lampposts, disconnected a property from mains power and connected it to generators, removed an existing flood wall and conducted a proof dig for existing services, she said.

They have also installed a temporary ‘super silent’ surface water pump - as well as acoustic barriers to surround the pump - and completed the installation of underground piling along Chantry Lane.

“The scheme will include the construction of an approximately 180-metre-long flood wall bordering The Dell, with a six metre-deep steel barrier underground; a flood gate; and a new manhole chamber with a penstock mechanism,” she said.

She added that the agency expected construction of the scheme to be completed in early 2022. The start of the work comes as part of a major drive to build new defences at various locations in the city.

The biggest project is to protect properties in Clementhorpe, but work has almost been completed in the North Street/Memorial Gardens area, and more work is planned on the other side of the river, from Museum Gardens up to Rawcliffe.