Flood defence work costing £65.5m is set to begin later this year in Staffordshire.
It will include drilling boreholes at 86 locations across Tamworth to discover what materials are in the ground and the types of flood defences needed.
The project is expected to start in November or December and will last six months to implement a mix of new defences and improve current flood walls.
Will Groves from the Environment Agency said that the current defences were not high enough and needed to be raised. Footpaths on top of flood defences will be closed during the work and traffic management on Lichfield Road will be in place.