News for: NFM

During 2016 Natural England applied for an additional round of funds, through the DEFRA Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund, to promote natural flood management among groups of farmers in areas hit by floods in late 2015. A bespoke, flood focused, scheme was subsequently launched in December 2016. In North West England funds were awarded to four projects, including an application in the upper River Irwell catchment led by Groundwork MSSTT in its role as host for the Irwell Catchment Partnership.

Schemes announced to receive £15m of natural flood management funding

Environment minister Thérése Coffey has announced details of projects which have been allocated funding for natural flood defences. As part of a drive to roll out innovative techniques to reduce flood risk. 34 community led projects have been named as winners of a £1m government funded competition, the first of its kind, enabling them to realise plans to use landscape features such as ponds, banks, meanders, channels, and trees to store, drain or slow flood water.

Mix of hard and soft approaches needed for NFM says WWF

Flood risk managers should combine multiple methods of hard and soft, structural and non-structural approaches when applying the integrated flood management, a WWF guide to natural flood risk management has recommended.

A new modelling study, commissioned by The Rivers Trust, shows that extensive and appropriately located Natural Flood Management (NFM) could make a significant difference to flood flows which would compliment traditional engineering measures.

The Rivers Trust has been working with JBA Consulting, Lancaster University and United Utilities to investigate how extensive NFM in large recently flooded catchments could have reduced flood flows in extreme storms, such as Storm Desmond in December 2015, which caused an estimated  £500million of damage.