Hull floats river diversion plan to regenerate dockside area

Officers at Hull council have dreamed up an ambitious plan to block the river Hull at its entrance to the Humber Estuary, in a move that could create a stylish riverside quarter.

The plans will be presented to councillors in the next couple of weeks and could lead to the kind of waterside regeneration achieved in Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow.

They would see Hull's run-down and silted-up west end docks re-flooded, opening up the area for residential and commercial development.

An officer at the council said: "This is purely at the conceptual stage, but we think it's a brilliant idea. It would be wonderful."

News of the river plan follows Hull's bid for up to £240m from the government to rebuild its schools. The move has been coordinated with the Humberside market renewal pathfinder to stop migration from the city. Hull's population fell by 8.6% between 1990 and 2001, leaving many properties empty.

Up to 1000 children a day are thought to "commute" into the East Riding to go to school. The pathfinder has designated this problem a priority, with its three key themes: "education, economy and urban design."