A BUILDING will be demolished in Hexham to provide greater flood defences.
Demolition of the Reiver Sports building, near the River Tyne, has started and will be replaced with a flood wall and embankment.
Conservative Councillor, Nick Oliver, said: "The Environment Agency acquired the building from Reiver Sports by negotiation as part of Hexham Industrial Estates Flood Alleviation Scheme as options to take the defences around the building were sub-optimal.
"This important £6.4m scheme will defend businesses and some residents in the Bridge End and Tyne Mills Industrial Estates areas from the devastating damage to 90 properties caused by flooding as experienced with Storm Desmond in 2015.
"The Environment Agency have worked hard and engaged with Northumberland County Council and local businesses over several years to deliver this and I look forward to the scheme completing by June next year."
The Environment Agency has been working to provide Hexham with better flood protection, with flood walls and grass embankments.
About 370 metres of new flood defences will be constructed from the existing flood embankment behind Egger UK Ltd to the Reiver Sports site.
The scheme will protect homes and businesses up to the level of the Storm Desmond 2015 flood.
The Agency's final case to demolish the building was approved in 2021 and funding allocated to the Hexham Flood Alleviation Scheme.
As part of the scheme, it intends to demolish the building on the former Reiver Sports site. An application was approved from the local authority and notice of this was advertised on site.
Permission to demolish was granted in June by the local authority, Northumberland County Council.
Members of the public have been updated on this scheme through newsletters, the last being issued on September 27.
The demolition will be taking place over the next few weeks and it is hoped to be completed before Christmas.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We are working to provide Hexham with flood defenses to better protect against the considerable damage that flooding can bring.
"The proposed scheme, which involves replacing the disused Reiver Sports building with a flood wall and embankment, is the result of detailed planning and analysis of a range of options. Once complete, it will reduce the risk of flooding at both industrial estates, protecting both businesses and local residents."
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