19/12/2016 Look North (Yorkshire)

earlier this evening. There will be more on that and

Tonight, our research reveals four times more is being spent

on defences on the River Thames than on the whole of Yorkshire.

A year on from the floods, we will be looking at how communities in

Leeds are fighting back. Tomorrow looks a fairly nice day but

what about the rest of the week? Join me for that week ahead

forecast. Look North has discovered that four

times more is to be spent on building flood defences

to protect the River Thames - than is planned to be spent

on the whole of Yorkshire. The new figures have come to light

almost a year after Storm Eva devastated the region with many

communities still trying In England the total flood defence

building programme is currently worth more than ?3.5 billion

in the coming decades. ?440 million will be spent

in Yorkshire, improving and building new flood defences

across the region. It is the river gateway to London

and we've found that ?1.8 billion will be spent on new flood defences

here beyond 2021. That's four times more

than is currently earmarked to be And all of this is happening

as the rivers in our Yorkshire has a long history of

being scarred by flooding. The first-ever addiction of look North

in 1968 was all about flooding in York. The police force have 30

officers and about a dozen boats helping people like this. York today

is looking almost like Little Venice. I went on someone's

shoulders with some with waders on. They've taken as a way to have

something to eat. In torrential rain. Storm battered westerns in

North Yorkshire last Christmas. Last year was the wettest December on

record. Climate models suggest that the extreme events that we saw last

year should become the norm as we move into the future. Today, the

Environment Agency said it is investing record amounts of money

for the fences in Yorkshire that will protect over 70,000 homes.

Money is spent on protecting London because it is the central economic

driving force of the UK. But that is of little comfort to those 4000

households across Yorkshire flooded last year and whilst London remains

dry, the rivers in our region are rising. During the 1970s, the river

who's had an average peak of 8.5 metres a year. In the 1980s, that

pig climbed again. It broke the nine litre threshold a decade after. It

has continued to rise ever since and given what happened last year, the

river is now picking on average at 9.3 metres high. Other academics

warned that we face some tough choices and both the government and

those affected by flooding have to realise that money cannot solve

everything. What happens every time everything. What happens every time

we have a flood? We throw some money at it and hope to god it doesn't

happen again. And it is patently obvious that the kind of sticky

plaster approach we have is not up to the job. It's not fit for

purpose. If you take a place like law York, it's the case that almost

no amount of flood defences in cities could ever properly cope.

There isn't an amount of concrete that you could apply if you allow

for building all over the flood plains of forever and allow the

agricultural practices, the lack of tree-planting etc to continue.

Without change, it is not a question of whether the auction will flood

again but when. On Look North every night this week

we're revisiting the Yorkshire communities devastated

by the Boxing Day floods to see how they're recovering and planning

for a flood-resilient future. Tonight, we've been looking

at Leeds, where more than three thousand homes and businesses

were affected and where work is well underway to try

to prevent a recurrence. Our reporter James Vincent

is on Kirkstall Road As many people know, one of the main

routes in and of Leeds. For a few days last year, this place became

part of the river. Water completely covered the four lanes of traffic we

are used to on the way in and out of Leeds city centre. I visited a

restaurant on the right just after the floods. They were chucking

everything into a huge skip. Everything was completely ruined.

That's an example of one of the businesses affected here. Flood

to detect Leeds city centre just to detect Leeds city centre just

down the road. But what about the rest of Leeds?

Leeds have never seen flooding like it. It was the highest ever recorded

level. More than 2500 homes and nearly 700 commercial properties

were flooded. Near the city centre, there are new defences. Phase one is

nearly finished. That should protect 3000 homes and 500 businesses. But

there are no guarantees about phase two. The work going on behind me is

a project being led by Leeds City Council. They are installing a

movable weir. In a flood event, those movable weirs will fall down

and that will create extra capacity for the flood waters and help the

water move safely through the city. My name is David Long. I'm the

manager for the climbing lab in Leeds. The water came in up to chest

height. We've had to delay the opening. A year later, the climbing

lab is up and running but wings are still tough. We cannot get

stand-alone cover. The initial quote, if we did qualify, which we

probably wouldn't, came back at something like ?10,000 a year. For

our business is unaffordable. We are having to look at it because the

cost of that faces having to close the business in the event of a flood

is something you have to weigh up. The ITV Studios is where they keep

Panic set in as water came into the Panic set in as water came into the

floor on Boxing Day last year. We've implemented a system which consists

of an early warning system monitoring water levels and leave

the building. There are a series of pumps that we have out in the

corridors and the basement to pump out any water that does make its way

in. We've also got a number of defence barriers which cover the

access points into the archive. The key thing is we don't get any water

into the film and tape storage areas. This Indian restaurant was

one of the businesses which had to close. They do plan to reopen but in

the meantime, it has been turned into a community centre providing

help and a team of over 1000 volunteers. A lot of it is clearing

flood debris but some of it is cleaning fly-tipping, improving

access and bringing them back into people's lives because it was

something people had turned their back on. There is a lot of work to

do as Leeds continues to clear up the city centre. It should be

protected next time but there is no guarantee we will see new flood

defences that will help the rest of the city.

And tomorrow night we'll be live in York to assess

the recovery there. Join us at 6.30pm.

A brief look at some of the day's other stories.

A man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend more than 30 times has been told

he'll spend at least 26 years behind bars.

Tapiwa Furusa attacked 22-year-old Leigh-Anne Mahachi in

Spotswood Close in Gleadless Valley back in Apri, as she left her

Spotswood Close in Gleadless Valley back in April, as she left her

Police say she died in an unprovoked, selfish

Leigh-Ann's family say they will miss her forever

and they have been left devastated by her death.

Meanwhile cold case detectives in West Yorkshire have launched

a fresh appeal to find the killer of a Mytholmroyd

88-year-old Agnes Ogden was smothered to death

in her home but her killer didn't steal anything.

Police think someone who lived nearby knows who's responsible.

They've asked anyone with information to come forward.

North Yorkshire power station Drax has been given the go ahead

to complete its part-conversion from coal to biomass.

Half of the plant now produces renewable electricity

through burning wood pellets, saving 12 million tonnes

Drax says that with support from the government it could convert

You are up-to-date with the news. I will leave you with a weather

forecast. Potentially quite stormy for the

Christmas week. It is going to be fairly bright tomorrow. Some

sunshine. Watch the jet acid piles in from the west by the end of the

week. It means some heavy rain and severe gales through Christmas Eve

and Boxing Day. We will keep you posted with that one. There is a

look at Friday's chart. It is wet and windy Friday night into

Christmas Eve. At the moment, fairly quiet. A bit of drizzle and patchy

light rain in places. We are looking at those of around 4 degrees.

Tuesday morning off to a cloudy and damp start. Mischievous in places.

As the breeze picks up, we will see decent breaks developing. Sunshine

for all of us through Tuesday afternoon. Top temperatures of 6

degrees. The wind will take the edge of the temperatures. It will feel

quite chilly. Tuesday evening is looking fairly quiet at first but

then a weather front will bring some rain in from the West so it turns

wet and windy on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. At main weather

front is out of the way by first light. A number of showers piling in

from the west and Wednesday's temperatures will be around about

eight Celsius. Sunshine and showers on Wednesday. Thursday is not

looking too bad. Dry with some sunshine. Friday, a dry and bright

start. Rain by the end of the day. Severe gales are possible over the

Christmas weekend. That's it. Heavy weather is brewing, it will

not reach us just yet. It will take a good few days before the stormy

weather reaches us. At the moment, it's just potential, nothing is

certain, but it will