APPROXIMATELY 90 properties are to be better protected from flooding at two Hexham industrial estates.

It comes as part of the Government’s £193 million investment to better protect properties in the North-East from flooding.

The Environment Agency has secured £5.2m for Hexham's Flood Alleviation Scheme which aims to reduce flooding by the River Tyne.

The Bridge End and Tyne Mills Industrial Estates were both flooded in 2015 during Storm Desmond.

The proposed scheme will reduce flood risk with approximately 600m of flood walls and grass embankments.

The improvement works to the Bridge End Industrial Estate include the construction of a new flood defence wall and short sections of flood embankment from the Reiver Sports site to the existing flood embankment at Egger.

At the Tyne Mills Industrial Estate, there will a short length of embankment across the Skinnersburn connecting into a new flood defence wall running along the perimeter of Northumberland County Council’s Tyne Mills depot through to the Peth Head pumping station.

The Environment Agency said it is in discussions with key landowners to gain agreement for construction access and permissions are being sought from the local planning authority and local lead flood authority to carry out work on the scheme.

A spokesperson said: “Our ever-changing climate is expected to mean wetter winters, more intense rainfall and, unfortunately, more frequent flooding in the future.

“Once planning consent and access agreements are in place, BAM Nuttall - our principal contractor - is due on site in Hexham in December 2021, with completion of the scheme running into late summer/autumn 2022.”

Northumberland County Council has contributed to the scheme.

Paul Jones, director of local services at the authority, said: "We're looking forward to these works getting underway which will not only better protect one of our key operational sites used to deliver essential services across the whole of the Tyne Valley, but also other parts of the town which have been susceptible to flooding in the past."

The scheme has been praised by councillors.

Nick Oliver, county councillor for Corbridge commented: “I have just stepped down as Northumberland’s representative on the regional flood and coastal committee which works with The Environment Agency, Northumbria Water and local authorities to prioritise flood defence projects across the North-East.

"This has been a priority project for some time and I’m grateful for the hard work of everybody involved to get it finalised and funded”.

Trevor Cessford, councillor for Hexham Central, added: “This is an important scheme for Hexham.

"Some of the town’s largest employers are based on these industrial estates and it’s crucial they can operate their businesses safe in the knowledge they will be protected from flooding”.