PLANS to improve flood defences around the River Usk in the Lliswerry area of Newport - which were first drawn up in 2016 - are being finalised.

The current flood defences include a 1,350-metre embankment along the River Usk from Stephenson Street, past Coronation Park, protecting much of Lliswerry.

If the defence was breached, 192 homes and 620 other properties would have greater than a one-in-200 risk of tidal flooding in any given year.

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But now Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has said some areas along the defence now only have a minimum level of protection due to issues such as landowner activity since it was built.

Plans to improve the defence were drawn up in 2016, and an outline business case agreed two years later.

But the project was delayed by “significant uncertainties”, with the proposed works clashing with the now cancelled M4 relief road plans.

Plans for the scheme are now progressing though, with a screening opinion request – which is normally lodged before a planning application – submitted to Newport City Council.

Documents submitted say the embankment’s current condition would be classified as a “failing asset due to subsidence and structural failures.”

“NRW estimate the standard of protection provided is as low as a one in 30-year tidal event (3.33 per cent chance of occurrence) at certain low spots,” it says.

“Near misses have occurred during recent high tides, including in January and March 2014, which corroborate NRW’s estimate of the lowest standard of protection.”

The plans include raising the existing bund on the Stephenson Street embankment through Coronation Park and raising a bund from Coronation Park down to the Hanson’s conveyor belt site.

A new concrete flood wall of around 640-metres would also be built through the Felnex Industrial Estate, connecting to a railway embankment.

And a new highway is proposed to connect the current dead-end of Corporation Road to East Bank Road, to maintain access to businesses and provide a means of escape when the flood gate is closed.

Other works include a flood gate across Corporation Road, improving three “low spots” of the defences including at Newport Transporter Bridge and re-enforcing concrete walls, including one near the Nash Wastewater Treatment Works.

The total length of the proposed flood defence improvements is around 1,600-metres.

If funding can be secured and permission granted, work on the project could start by the summer of 2021.