'Dig up Hackney Marshes to save lives from floods'

Flood risk: Hackney Marshes in east London
Ruth Bloomfield12 April 2012

Disaster plans costing £10 million have been drawn up to protect a swathe of east London from floods.

A report by Hackney council warns: "Hackney Wick contains a pocket of land which has a very high risk of flooding that could lead to a threat to human life and property."

Consultants Scott Wilson, who were hired by the council to assess the area, found that about 100,000 square metres of Hackney Wick are at severe risk and suggested that a "similar area" should be dug up in Hackney Marshes to collect floodwaters.

A report by the firm conceded that this would have a serious impact on wildlife and leisure users of the open space. It is not known how the marshes' football pitches would be affected.

The excavation would cost between £6 million and £10 million, depending on whether or not it involved the disposal of hazardous waste materials.

Before the Second World War, the marshes provided a natural floodplain and were regularly overwhelmed. But after the war tons of rubble from bomb-damaged buildings were dumped there, raising the level of the land.

The Scott Wilson report said another option would be to build a flood defence wall along part of the Lea for £800,000, although it warned that this could simply cause flooding further to the east.

Hackney's cabinet committee meets tonight and is expected to commission further research into the problem.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in