Government funding natural ways to hold back the floods
DOZENS of projects which plan to use natural techniques, including tree planting and the creation of wetland habitats to reduce flood risk, are set to benefit from £25m of Government funding following an announcement by Floods Minister Robbie Moore.
These include a scheme where Not- tinghamshire Wildlife Trust is work- ing with partners including the Envi- ronment Agency and Nottinghamshire County Council to reduce flooding in Shirebrook and Worksop.
This programme forms part of the Government’s efforts to increase flood resilience across the country by investing in natural flood management processes which either protect, restore, or in some cases mimic natural functions within floodplains and river catchments, and along our coast, to slow the passage of water and store water away from sensitive areas.
The funding has been made available to a range of projects led by councils, charities and community groups.
Locally, as well as our project to develop Natural Flood Management (NFM) along the River Ryton, a Nottinghamshire County Council project in Cropwell Butler will also benefit.
Across the region, projects along Willow Brook in Leicester and the River Rase in Lincolnshire are also amongst the 40 successful schemes.
Across the country, many of these schemes are designed to slow and store surface water run-off.
In addition to helping reduce flood risk this approach helps limit soil erosion – a vital measure to help underpin sustainable farming and food security. Elsewhere new wetland habitats will be created along with new woodlands and hedgerows.
Features such as ponds, swales (hollows or depressions designed to hold and slow water) as well as features such as “leaky dams” designed to slow the flow of water in rivers and streams will also be used.
Following the Government’s launch of the largest-ever investment in natu- ral flood management schemes last September, community groups, coun- cils and charities from across the country submitted applications which were then reviewed by the Environment Agency, Defra and Natural England.
Having long championed the NFM approach, we are delighted that our proposal to work with farmers and other landowners to develop a range of features, including ponds, bunds, leaky barriers, wetland habitat, tree planting and the restoration of floodplain connections to help slow and store water along the catchment upstream of the River Ryton to help alleviate the risk of flooding in areas such as Shireoaks, Rhodesia and Worksop – which have been impacted by flooding in recent years.
As well as reducing flood risk, this approach helps deliver new wetlands and ponds which provide important habitat within the catchment.
These features also provide opportunities for sediment to settle, improving water quality. As well as providing habitat for species such as amphibians and the threatened water vole, ponds and wetlands can also provide ideal spawning area for fish.
As we face up to the challenge of tackling the climate and nature crises and look for more sustainable and affordable solutions to prevent flooding from damaging homes and business premises, this latest support for Natural Flood Management is very welcome and we look forward to developing the next phases of our project.
In addition to embracing natural solutions, this approach harnesses the benefits of partnership – with charities and councils collaborating with landowners to develop and deliver schemes that help the wider community.
Hopefully, the scale of this latest investment will go a long way to ensuring that natural techniques become much more widely used to tackle the increasing frequency and severity of flooding – complementing more traditional engineered defences such as flood walls.
This new funding will help protect people, property and businesses from the impacts of flooding whilst helping boost groundwater stores, protecting valuable soils, locking away carbon and enhancing green spaces for communities.
By embracing natural solutions, we can make our landscape and our towns and cities much more climate resilient whilst putting nature into recovery.