Wyke Beck

Wyke Beck is a stream that runs from Roundhay Park to the River Aire in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Described as an Urban Beck, the stream flows through housing estates and then an industrial landscape in its lower reaches. Wyke Beck has been prone to flooding so often, that remediation of its course and flood storage schemes have been initiated by Leeds City Council.

Wyke Beck
Footbridge over the Wyke Beck
Location
CountryEngland
CountyWest Yorkshire
CityLeeds
Physical characteristics
SourceWaterloo Lake
 • locationRoundhay Park, Leeds
 • coordinates53.831°N 1.493°W / 53.831; -1.493
 • elevation490 feet (150 m)
MouthRiver Aire
 • location
Skelton Lake
 • coordinates
53.766°N 1.475°W / 53.766; -1.475
 • elevation
66 feet (20 m)
Length6.2 miles (10 km)

The Wyke Beck is a green corridor through east Leeds and flows through, or near, five local nature reserves. Industrial development in its lower reaches has had an impact on the beck and future developments may also mean a reduction in sites for wildlife. A proposal to site a railway depot in the Temple Green/Knostrop area, has been identified as potentially damaging to a colony of white-clawed crayfish.

Description

The stream starts as an outflow of Waterloo Lake in Roundhay Park, Leeds.[1] The lake, which covers 33 acres (13 ha) and is 60 feet (18 m) deep, was previously a quarry which was adapted into a feature of the park by unemployed soldiers who had returned from the Napoleonic Wars, hence the name of the lake.[2] The beck heads in a southerly direction under the A58 road and through Gipton, under the A64 road and the Leeds to York Railway Line before circumnavigating the park at Primrose Valley by passing to the west.[3]

Below the B6159 (and latterly, the A63 road), the beck flows through an industrial landscape, which historically polluted the beck. The site of Meadowfield Primary School was in use as Wyke Beck Colliery until 1951.[4]

The watercourse was diverted in 1914 in conjunction with the opening of the sewage works at Knostrop.[5] The proposals to build the depot for HS2 trains at Knostrop (part of the Gateway 45 project) would see the beck diverted again with work expected to take six months.[6] Wyke Beck originally flowed through what is the site of Skelton Lake; at some point the River Aire was straightened, and the beck diverted to enter the river a little further south.[7]

As the beck flows through the populated areas in east Leeds, it is described as an urban beck.[8][9]

Flooding

The beck has been described as a main tributary of the River Aire,[10] and has flooded many times in the 21st century, most notably in 2004, 2005, and 2007.[11][12] The flooding is a combination of several factors; usually intense rainfall is the cause, but secondary effects are the amount of litter dumped into the stream and the developments built near to, or over, the beck.[8] Yorkshire Water have installed storm tanks in Wykebeck Valley Road, and Gipton, which are designed to prevent flash flood water and sanitary waste entering Wyke Beck.[13]

In August 2008, the level of the beck rose by 3-foot-3-inch (1 m) in 15 minutes, requiring the fire brigade to be called in to pump water away from the A64 road.[9] Peak flooding reached a level of 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m) on the Dunhills Estate in 2017, after sirens were sounded to warn of flooding to properties.[14] A gauging weir at Gipton recorded the highest level ever in June 2007 as being 6 feet 6 inches (1.99 m).[15]

Recreation and LNRs

The course of the beck is shadowed by the Wykebeck Way, which follows the beck south as far as Temple Newsam.[16] The beck flows either through, or alongside, five Local Nature Reserves; Wykebeck Woods and Asket Hill, Arthur’s Rein, Killingbeck Fields, Primrose Valley, and Halton Moor.[17] A proposal to link the Wyke Beck Way with Rothwell Country Park by putting bridges across the River Aire and the Aire and Calder Navigation came to fruition in 2017 with the installation of the Skelton Bridge.[18][19]

Flooding on the Wyke Beck has been problematic for properties below Killingbeck Meadows LNR, so in 2019, a programme was undertaken to provide flooding control and storage at Killingbeck Meadows. The programme was part of a £4.75 million scheme to help the local environment.[20] Further applications to create dams and wetlands in the Killingbeck LNR were made in May 2020.[21] The flood area at Killingbeck fields can hold 880,000 cubic feet (25,000 m3), which combined with the 2020 impounding application, can be increased to 1,600,000 cubic feet (45,000 m3).[22]

Hydrology and wildlife

The water quality of the beck has been recorded as Moderate for ecological status and Good for its chemical composition. In the early 2010s, the Wyke Beck was failing on its chemical status.[23] The Environment Agency has set a target of 2027 for the beck to be registered as having an overall quality of Good.[24] The adjacent Knostrop Sewage Works near to the beck's mouth, has historically discharged treated wastewater into the beck.[25] Diesel spills have been reported on the beck; one was in October 1991, with another in April 2018 that also polluted a 6 miles (9.7 km) stretch of the River Aire.[26][27] A company from Surrey was fined £15,000 for allowing raw sewage to enter the beck in 2003 and kill crayfish. They had been installing a new sewer for Yorkshire Water.[28] The beck was also polluted with an insecticide in 2017, which was rated as "exceed[ing] chronic pollution levels for neonicotinoids".[29]

Water voles, European bullhead, trout and white-clawed crayfish are known to have been present on the beck.[30] The population of native crayfish in the beck (and also at nearby Meanwood Beck) has been described as strong, so much so that some were removed to Pudsey Beck to form an ark.[31] The habitat for all of these is under threat from the proposed development of the rolling stock depot (RSD) at Gateway 45 for the HS2 line into Leeds. The proposals include more culverting and drainage, which would result in "...permanent adverse effects... on the watercourse".[32]

References
  1. Beecham, Richard (4 August 2020). "East Leeds set for multi-million pound flooding work". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  2. "Waterloo Lake: The secrets lurking in its murky depths". The Yorkshire Post. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  3. Smith, Gary (5 September 2020). "The 'bits in between' can provide so much beauty". The Yorkshire Post. Country Week. p. 22. ISSN 0963-1496.
  4. Lake, R D; Northmore, K J; Dean, M T; Tragheim, D G (1992). "Leeds : a geological background for planning and development". Onshore geology series. Keyworth: British Geological Survey (WA/92/1): 57. OCLC 59886018.
  5. "Sewage Disposal Works at Leeds". The Engineer. London: Morgan-Grampian. 118 (July - December 1914): 502. December 1914. ISSN 0013-7758. OCLC 859584571.
  6. HS2 2018, p. 39.
  7. "Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020. [Use the Change transparency of overlay function to show the difference between the late 19th century and modern day]
  8. "Work on urban beck may finally end fears of flooding on estate". The Yorkshire Post. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  9. "Flood all-clear as beck retreats". BBC News. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  10. "River Aire Fact File" (PDF). environment data.org. Environment Agency. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  11. "Battered county counts costs of downpour". infoweb.newsbank.com. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  12. "£500k flood defence scheme stands up to test". Water Briefing. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  13. Edwards, Richard (23 October 2006). "How much water can our drains cope with?". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. "Leeds flood sirens: The storm as it happened". infoweb.newsbank.com. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  15. "River level information for Wyke Beck at Gipton South Parkway - GOV.UK". flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  16. "Wykebeck Way". sustrans.org.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  17. "Wyke Beck Valley | Yorkshire Wildlife Trust". www.ywt.org.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  18. "Fresh Aire Draft Delivery Plan" (PDF). leeds.gov.uk. LDA design. 4 April 2014. p. 82. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  19. "New bridge puts cyclists on the right path | Yorkshire Sport". Yorkshire Sport. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  20. Mitchinson, James, ed. (5 August 2020). "Tree planting to cut flooding". The Yorkshire Post. p. 2. ISSN 0963-1496.
  21. "Leeds City Council: application made to abstract water and impound water". GOV.UK. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  22. "Wykebeck Flood Alleviation" (PDF). westyorkshire.moderngov.co.uk/. p. 3. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  23. "Wyke Beck from Source to River Aire". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  24. HS2 2018, p. 121.
  25. "SKELTON GRANGE ENERGY FROM WASTE FACILITY ENVIRONMENTAL PERMIT APPLICATION" (PDF). consult.environment-agency.gov.uk. SKELTON GRANGE EFW Submission to Discharge Pre-Commencement Conditions. June 2018. p. 7. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  26. "Land at Triangle 45, Cross Green, Leeds For Halifax Estates Management" (PDF). sw.co.uk. May 2020. p. 4. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  27. "Oil spill pollutes stretch of River Aire". BBC News. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  28. "Raw sewage dump firm lucky to escape crown court appearance". Surrey Comet. 18 August 2005. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  29. "Leeds watercourse '˜heavily contaminated' with harmful pesticides". The Yorkshire Post. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  30. Sunderland, Kevin (December 2013). "River Aire Fish Populations 2012". The Naturalist. York: Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 138 (1, 084): 178. ISSN 0028-0771.
  31. "Lower Aire Key Project Details" (PDF). aireandcalderpartnership.org. p. 2. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  32. HS2 2018, p. 92.

Sources
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