Alkborough
Flats is an area of low-lying
arable farmland of nearly 4 km²
situated at the "Confluence
of the Rivers" where the
Rivers Trent and Ouse join to form the
Humber estuary. The land is now jointly
owned by the UK's Environment
Agency and English
Nature. Flood defences which
were built in the 1950s to protect the
area are being breached to allow water
to reclaim the land at high tide and
in times of flooding. The project will
create 2 km² of new intertidal
habitat in the inner part of the Humber
estuary. The new grassland will be managed
to encourage biodiversity, with reedbeds,
lagoons and grazing areas.
Alkborough Flats is the first coastal
realignment site to be developed as
part of the Humber Shoreline Management
Plan. This "managed retreat"
strategy should lessen the risks of
flooding in low-lying towns along the
Ouse and Trent by realigning existing
flood defences to create compensatory
intertidal habitat around the estuary.
