Government funds Natural Flood Management efforts

23 November 2021

National Highways has awarded more than £420,000 to 13 Natural Flood Management projects. 

Natural Flood Management (NFM) aims to slow or store water in the landscape by assisting or enhancing natural processes in order to mitigate flood risk. An example of NFM would be making adjustments to the management of an area of land so that the soil can absorb more water, creating ‘storage ponds’. 

Other examples include planting woodlands and hedgerows which will naturally absorb water from the ground, or constructing ‘leaky dams’, which are generally made from logs, as natural barriers.

The first round of the government-funded project will see farmers and landowners participating in AFM covering parts of the Little Don, River Etherow and River Irwell catchments, which are located in Yorkshire and the North West. 

National Highways Head of Environment Ivan Le Fevre said, “This pilot will explore how we can work with farmers and landowners to reduce flood risk on sections of the strategic road network known to be particularly vulnerable to flooding.

“It’s an innovative catchment-based approach to an issue that poses safety risks to road users and one that we normally tackle through engineering. By developing flood alleviation schemes throughout the catchment areas of these three rivers we are tackling the issue at source.

“We’ve been staggered by the phenomenal response to the scheme. We had so many applications, which shows there’s a real appetite for natural solutions and our successful bidders are now playing an important role in reducing flooding in downstream areas.”

You can read more about the project and comments from participants here.

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