More than 44,000 properties in Kirklees are at risk of flooding – and this number is expected to rise.

Kirklees Council’s Cabinet has just approved a new Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, which sets out the council’s role in managing the risk of flooding in Kirklees.

The council says while it isn’t possible to prevent all flooding, the local authority can take actions to manage the risk, increasing local resilience and reducing the impact on communities.

As a Lead Local Flood Authority, Kirklees Council has established the new strategy to lay out how flood risk will be managed locally, setting out how properties which are at risk will be protected and anticipating the effects of climate change. This reflects the objectives of the national strategy and is based on a long-term approach.

The council also done extensive public engagement on flood risk since 2022. This engagement has involved relevant services across Kirklees, key partners such as the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water and, crucially, local communities in areas known to be at risk of flooding.

All of this feedback has helped shape this new strategy, ensuring it aligns with the nature of local flood risk and with the support these communities need.

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The new strategy places a much greater focus on creating resilient communities which are able to ‘build back better’ following flooding.

The council will be looking at more natural options to slow down the flow of water, and will focus on being adaptive on responding to new climate hazards.

The priority going forward will be working together with local communities around awareness and shared responsibilities when flooding occurs, and the council’s own commitment in responding to severe weather events.

Now that the new Local Flood Risk Management Strategy has been approved, the priority going forward will be working together with local communities around awareness and shared responsibilities when flooding occurs, and the council’s own commitment in responding to severe weather events.

Clr Graham Turner, Cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said: “We currently have more than 44,000 properties in Kirklees which are at risk of flooding for various reasons.

“These are people’s homes, their businesses, their lives – and we only expect flood risks to rise with the effects of climate change.

“This new strategy is very focused on us being more adaptive to new climate hazards, and linking in not just with other organisations involved in that chain reaction but also with the communities who are most affected.

“We’ll never be able to prevent all flooding but we want to make our communities, our local businesses and our land more resilient.

“We’ll do all we can to support those at risk, and where flooding does happen it’s about building back better.”

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