I remember Hull being criss crossed with drains and dykes, as a child I can recall fishing in them with nets for sticklebacks and newts, life was fun back then in the long hot summers (at least it seemed to be as a 7 year old) Roll on 50 years they have all been filled in to allow building land to be freed up, only two large ones remain one of which my home in Hull backs down to, am I worried? no!
Back in 2007 when we had the last major floods, rainwater was running a foot deep along roads, water was coming up through grates in the road like fountains and yes the water level in Barmston drain behind my house rose, it rose to the highest we could remember but never came close to overtopping the bank.
Our ancestors who dug these dykes and drains had the right idea to keep land that is lower than sea level (Hull is lower than sea level) dry. It seems that with the rapid increase in housing needs over the last 50 years our leaders have lost touch with reality. Maybe what we need to do is bring dykes and drains into the 21st century? They don't have to be on the surface, they can be piped underground with sufficient grating run-offs in strategic areas? If developers were made to install this sort of thing in the building phase maybe they would think twice about wanting to develop on flood plains.