Economic impact of 2015 Boxing Day floods in Yorkshire hits half a billion pounds, according to new review

The economic cost of the 2015 Boxing Day floods in Yorkshire currently stands at half a billion pounds, according to a review into the flooding across Leeds City Region by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and local partners.

4,000 homes and 2,000 businesses were affected by the flooding with the cost of damage to infrastructure, including bridges, roads and electricity sub-stations, topping £100m.

The impact of the flooding on the health, including mental health impacts caused by stress, on City Region residents is also likely to reach £9.6m over the next two years, taking into account loss of GDP, the cost to the NHS and private treatment.

In Calderdale, the community suffered severe damage to homes, infrastructure and businesses, with a direct economic impact on SMEs reaching £47m.

Meanwhile in Leeds, the flooding centred on the commercial and industrial areas in Kirkstall which had a major impact on the railway infrastructure in and around the city centre. It is estimated that £10m of infrastructure damage was caused in the city as well as major disruption to travel and business premises.

In Leeds, £3.8m has already been invested to repair damage along the River Aire, including Phase 1 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme. The government have committed funding to the Scheme, with £33m for phase one, which started in 2015, and an additional £35m for the second phase.

A flood information centre opened earlier this month in Kirkstall to provide information and advice to residents and businesses.

A year on from the floods, a total of £207m has been committed by government and councils towards new flood defences and prevention in the Leeds City Region by 2021, which £73m was announced in the 2016 Budget.

In Calderdale, this includes £60m for flood risk management of which £35m is to reduce flooding to 1600 homes and businesses, £25m invested to repair roads and bridges and a further £9m towards the repair of flood defences.

With climate change making severe weather and flooding more likely in future, the review concluded that 90,000 homes and business premises in the City Region remain at risk of flooding, including 12,000 at serious risk.

The review identifies hundreds of millions more pounds are needed to safeguard City Region communities from future severe weather with an immediate call for £25m to accelerate the delivery of 10 flood defence schemes over the next five years.

Cllr Tim Swift, leader of Calderdale Council who led the review, said: “As we near the one year anniversary of the Boxing Day floods, we are still feeling the impact on our local communities. I am so proud of the support and investment that we have seen to help our residents and businesses get back on their feet. But with so many thousands of homes still at risk of future flooding, more must be done to ensure we protect our communities.

“This review has produced some important recommendations that will help shape our investment activity over the long term and ensure we prioritise our most vulnerable areas. The Combined Authority is fully committed to doing all we can to protect our residents and businesses and we will now take forward these recommendations so that we start to see the benefits both socially and economically.”

On top of the initial financial support from the LEP and Combined Authority, a further £7.8m of Local Growth funding has been committed to go towards investment in flood defence and prevention measures to safeguard communities and businesses most at risk of future flooding.