Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience project


North East Lincolnshire Council, City of Doncaster Council, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water


Delivering benefits to people, businesses and the community by transforming simple streetscapes into blue-green corridors.

We will boost flood resilience, biodiversity, health and place making within the urban environment through the use of SuDS. We will better allow communities and risk management authorities to reduce the damage and disruption caused by flooding by providing state-of-the art physical and digital infrastructure. We will use a FAIR approach to work with communities in Doncaster. Immingham and Grimsby: Flood Aware, Informed and Resilient.





In Doncaster Immingham and Grimsby there are numerous properties are at risk of flooding from surface water and the public sewer network. The DIG project is a partnership between North East Lincolnshire Council, City of Doncaster Council, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water. Together we aim to use innovative sustainable drainage techniques to increase flood resilience and bring communities closer to nature.

“This project is funded by Defra as part of the £150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to resilience tailored to local communities.”

So what are Sustainable Drainage Systems?

SuDS are a clever, more natural alternative to rainwater flowing directly into the sewers, which are sometimes unable to cope with extremely heavy rainfall. Instead, rainwater is transported into green areas to be soaked up by plants and trees or stored in ponds and drained away more slowly to a watercourse or the sewer.

Retrofit SuDS are features fitted after a building or street has been built, and are integrated with existing highway drains and sewers, rather than as part of the original design.

Link to New SuDS Leaflet below:-

https://engageenvironmentagency.uk.engagementhq.com/16711/widgets/83853/documents/51273

Our project will:

  • Deliver SuDS in the Scawthorpe and Clay Lane areas of Doncaster, and around Immingham, and Broadway, Grimsby to reduce flood risk from surface water and the sewers whilst providing attractive green streets. This will encourage walking and cycling, enable biodiversity to flourish, and bring communities closer to nature to boost health and wellbeing.
  • Work with schools, businesses, and local communities to raise understanding of flood risk, and the steps we can take to make ourselves and our properties more resilient.
  • Engage with local communities to ‘design their own’ SuDS and choose the planting in their own local rain gardens.
  • Install weather and sewer monitoring to provide flood risk information to the community and work with University of Hull to measure the impact of each SuDS feature on flood risk over time.
  • Share the costs and benefits of retrofitting SuDS in urban areas to help enable future projects across the UK.

Project Locations

How to get involved

We want local communities to get involved in the project and feel pride in their new greener streets.

So far we have delivered lessons on the water cycle, sustainability and flooding to local schools and have installed weather stations in school grounds. This data will be made available for the school and communities to use.

We will be inviting residents and community groups in Clay Lane, Scawthorpe, Immingham and Broadway to contribute to the designs by helping to selecting the plants, trees and vegetation that will be used and giving their feedback.

Keep an eye out for leaflets and posters regarding our public events in your local area.

If any residents, businesses, or community groups would like to get involved or find out more about the project, please drop us an email at ENV-Drainage@nelincs.gov.uk(External link) or flooding@doncaster.gov.uk .

How our project is testing innovation

The partnership created for this project spans across two water companies and two local authorities which are remote from each other. This allows for the data to be gathered on how well we can retrofit sustainable drainage within a range of different communities, street scenes, topographies and geologies. This should allow for a robust cost benefit appraisal to be carried out incorporating these local differences, which should help to provide guidance to other local authorities across the country to develop their own sustainable drainage retrofit schemes.

As part of the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme we are testing 4 resilience actions.

  • Integrated water management solutions
  • Community infrastructure resilience
  • Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly
  • Enhanced flood warning systems
Visit the programme evaluation page to find out more.


Project Updates:

Last updated – 14/09/2023.

- The project has completed the first milestone, passing the Environment Agency's assurance process. This has secured £6.7m of funding for the retrofit of SuDS in our communities.

- 12 Flow monitors have been installed across all three of the towns. The monitors allow the project to assess how the sewer network performs currently during heavy rain. These monitors will be used again in the future after the SuDS are installed to analyse the improvements in the network.

- Resident surveys have been carried out to gather baseline information from the 4 communities with regards to their knowledge of local flood risk, and SuDS. A short film based around the results will be available soon, showcasing the responses and key findings. from the communities. Additional surveys are planned during construction and at the end of the project to see how people’s views may have changed.

- SuDS in schools. NELC has installed over 40 SuDS Planters in schools at Grimsby and Immingham. The SuDS Planters help to attenuate rainfall from the school building by diverting it into raised flower beds. In addition to this, the planters also act as an educational resource, getting the kids to ask ‘What is this for?’ and ‘How does it work?’. The planters are located near to the school entrance as well to get their parents asking the same questions, which in turn gets them think about the climate and their own flood risk, and what they can do to help. Image shown below.

Several of the planters have interactive wall features to help boost the engagement value offered.”


09/11/2023

– Doncaster Council and Yorkshire Water visited Castle Hills Primary Academy to deliver lessons on the water cycle, the risk of flooding and the benefits of SuDS. This was followed by a cocreation workshop where the students were involved in choosing the theme of SuDS planter they will be having installed outside their classrooms. The children were engaged throughout and are excited to see their planters installed, which is scheduled in for the February half term holiday’.


North East Lincolnshire Council, City of Doncaster Council, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water


Delivering benefits to people, businesses and the community by transforming simple streetscapes into blue-green corridors.

We will boost flood resilience, biodiversity, health and place making within the urban environment through the use of SuDS. We will better allow communities and risk management authorities to reduce the damage and disruption caused by flooding by providing state-of-the art physical and digital infrastructure. We will use a FAIR approach to work with communities in Doncaster. Immingham and Grimsby: Flood Aware, Informed and Resilient.





In Doncaster Immingham and Grimsby there are numerous properties are at risk of flooding from surface water and the public sewer network. The DIG project is a partnership between North East Lincolnshire Council, City of Doncaster Council, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water. Together we aim to use innovative sustainable drainage techniques to increase flood resilience and bring communities closer to nature.

“This project is funded by Defra as part of the £150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to resilience tailored to local communities.”

So what are Sustainable Drainage Systems?

SuDS are a clever, more natural alternative to rainwater flowing directly into the sewers, which are sometimes unable to cope with extremely heavy rainfall. Instead, rainwater is transported into green areas to be soaked up by plants and trees or stored in ponds and drained away more slowly to a watercourse or the sewer.

Retrofit SuDS are features fitted after a building or street has been built, and are integrated with existing highway drains and sewers, rather than as part of the original design.

Link to New SuDS Leaflet below:-

https://engageenvironmentagency.uk.engagementhq.com/16711/widgets/83853/documents/51273

Our project will:

  • Deliver SuDS in the Scawthorpe and Clay Lane areas of Doncaster, and around Immingham, and Broadway, Grimsby to reduce flood risk from surface water and the sewers whilst providing attractive green streets. This will encourage walking and cycling, enable biodiversity to flourish, and bring communities closer to nature to boost health and wellbeing.
  • Work with schools, businesses, and local communities to raise understanding of flood risk, and the steps we can take to make ourselves and our properties more resilient.
  • Engage with local communities to ‘design their own’ SuDS and choose the planting in their own local rain gardens.
  • Install weather and sewer monitoring to provide flood risk information to the community and work with University of Hull to measure the impact of each SuDS feature on flood risk over time.
  • Share the costs and benefits of retrofitting SuDS in urban areas to help enable future projects across the UK.

Project Locations

How to get involved

We want local communities to get involved in the project and feel pride in their new greener streets.

So far we have delivered lessons on the water cycle, sustainability and flooding to local schools and have installed weather stations in school grounds. This data will be made available for the school and communities to use.

We will be inviting residents and community groups in Clay Lane, Scawthorpe, Immingham and Broadway to contribute to the designs by helping to selecting the plants, trees and vegetation that will be used and giving their feedback.

Keep an eye out for leaflets and posters regarding our public events in your local area.

If any residents, businesses, or community groups would like to get involved or find out more about the project, please drop us an email at ENV-Drainage@nelincs.gov.uk(External link) or flooding@doncaster.gov.uk .

How our project is testing innovation

The partnership created for this project spans across two water companies and two local authorities which are remote from each other. This allows for the data to be gathered on how well we can retrofit sustainable drainage within a range of different communities, street scenes, topographies and geologies. This should allow for a robust cost benefit appraisal to be carried out incorporating these local differences, which should help to provide guidance to other local authorities across the country to develop their own sustainable drainage retrofit schemes.

As part of the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme we are testing 4 resilience actions.

  • Integrated water management solutions
  • Community infrastructure resilience
  • Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly
  • Enhanced flood warning systems
Visit the programme evaluation page to find out more.


Project Updates:

Last updated – 14/09/2023.

- The project has completed the first milestone, passing the Environment Agency's assurance process. This has secured £6.7m of funding for the retrofit of SuDS in our communities.

- 12 Flow monitors have been installed across all three of the towns. The monitors allow the project to assess how the sewer network performs currently during heavy rain. These monitors will be used again in the future after the SuDS are installed to analyse the improvements in the network.

- Resident surveys have been carried out to gather baseline information from the 4 communities with regards to their knowledge of local flood risk, and SuDS. A short film based around the results will be available soon, showcasing the responses and key findings. from the communities. Additional surveys are planned during construction and at the end of the project to see how people’s views may have changed.

- SuDS in schools. NELC has installed over 40 SuDS Planters in schools at Grimsby and Immingham. The SuDS Planters help to attenuate rainfall from the school building by diverting it into raised flower beds. In addition to this, the planters also act as an educational resource, getting the kids to ask ‘What is this for?’ and ‘How does it work?’. The planters are located near to the school entrance as well to get their parents asking the same questions, which in turn gets them think about the climate and their own flood risk, and what they can do to help. Image shown below.

Several of the planters have interactive wall features to help boost the engagement value offered.”


09/11/2023

– Doncaster Council and Yorkshire Water visited Castle Hills Primary Academy to deliver lessons on the water cycle, the risk of flooding and the benefits of SuDS. This was followed by a cocreation workshop where the students were involved in choosing the theme of SuDS planter they will be having installed outside their classrooms. The children were engaged throughout and are excited to see their planters installed, which is scheduled in for the February half term holiday’.

What else would you like to know about our project?

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Page last updated: 07 Feb 2024, 11:57 AM