£7m Ickles Lock flood defences officially opened

Artwork at the new Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme works at Ickles Lock.

ARTWORK adorns a new 125-metre concrete wall at Ickles Lock in a £7 million flood defence project.

The works – formally opened last Thursday (27) – are designed to reduce the impact of heavy rains on Rotherham town centre.

The new protection – stretching from the lock to Centenary Way – follows the award winning canal barrier near Main Street being completed last August.

It is hoped that residents, businesses and Rotherham Central railway station will now avoid repeats of damage like in 2007 and 2019.

Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority each put in £2 million, with the rest coming from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund as part of a programme which ran from 2014 to 2020.

Cllr Dominic Beck, RMBC cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “This flood wall will protect another part of our town from flooding and the awful impact it can have on peoples’ homes and businesses.

“This is just the latest step in a council flood alleviation scheme that is making great strides to protect our town, as we’ll be carrying out further works at six more locations as part of the scheme.

“We’re also working hard as a council to reduce the carbon emissions that are widely seen as a cause of global warming and some heavy rains.”

Darren Blank, project manager at Jackson Civil Engineering, said: “The project was a massive challenge during pre-construction and delivery.”

He added: “We have been working on the scheme for over three years so this really is the culmination of huge stakeholder engagement and collaboration and excellence from the site team and our supply chain.

“The final product is testament to all of this and I am proud to have been a part of it.”

Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon MP joined dignitaries for the opening last week.

Artists Anthony Donnelly and Phil Padfield, from of Urban Canvas and Affix Art respectively, painted the flood wall and cycle ramp next to the lock. Their designs are inspired by nature and Rotherham’s industrial heritage.

Water defences were also completed on Forge Island before work started on the cinema project.

The latest works are part of the council’s Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme, which aims to reduce the risk along a 5km stretch of the River Don.