Leigh Flood Storage Area

The Leigh Flood Storage Area project will facilitate delivery of two interventions, within the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling.

Improvements to the Leigh Flood Storage Area and local embankments in Hildenborough

The current Leigh Flood Storage Area provides Tonbridge with some flood protection from the flood risk presented by the River Medway.  However, in 2013/14 the Flood Storage Area offered an insufficient level of protection and the area suffered serious flooding, affecting over 300 homes and over 100 local businesses. In addition to the flood risk to existing properties, considerable parts of the borough are constrained by the risk of flooding.  Investment is needed to increase the capacity of the storage area in order to achieve greater protection for existing homes and businesses and to unlock new residential and commercial development. The project will deliver improvements to the Leigh Flood Storage Area and local embankments in Hildenborough.  These improvements will provide protection to the greatest number of existing homes and businesses and will create the greatest level of opportunity in terms of new jobs and homes.

The East Peckham Flood Storage Area

East Peckham also experienced serious flooding in 2013/14 and therefore, in order to provide adequate flood protection to existing homes and businesses in East Peckham, and to unlock new sites for development, the project will also deliver improvements to local embankments in East Peckham.

Project update

The project was considered by Accountability Board on 7th June 2019 and the decision was made to remove the East Peckham Flood Storage Area element from the project. The improvements to the Leigh Flood Storage Area and local embankments in Hildenborough element of the project is well developed and was awarded funding by Accountability Board in September 2018, as part 1 of the project.  However, the East Peckham Flood Storage Area element of the project (part 2) is not as well developed and a number of risks have been identified, including uncertainty regarding the delivery timescales for part 2 of the project, the lack of security of the additional funding sources required to deliver the proposed improvements and the likelihood that the project will require an extension beyond the Growth Deal period.  As a result of these issues it was recommended that part 2 of the project was removed from the SELEP LGF programme. The £2.287m of LGF funding provisionally allocated to part 2 of the project will be reallocated to LGF3b pipeline projects.  Part 1 of the project remains within the LGF programme and will be delivered in accordance with the Business Case.

£579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock

In total the SELEP Growth Deal with Government has brought £579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock. Over the lifetime of the Growth Deal (2015-2021) we aim to deliver 78,000 jobs and 29,000 homes across the SELEP area, with the Deal set to attract a further £960m of investment into the South East over the six year period.

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