Launch of major ‘source to sea’ natural flood risk management and habitat creation scheme drive

Environment Agency – A wide-reaching ‘source to sea’ natural flood risk management and habitat creation scheme for the River Don was launched yesterday with a day of tree planting.  Richard Emmmott of Yorkshire Water, Liz Ballard of Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, a ranger from trust, and Helen Batt of the Environment Agency

The collective ambition of multiple organisations across South Yorkshire to respond to the climate and nature emergency was marked with the first batch of planting of what will be 38,000 trees to better protect homes and businesses across the region from flooding.

The November 2019 floods generated huge support to further develop a catchment-based approach to managing the risk of flooding at a landscape scale along the River Don.

By investing in nature based solutions like tree planting, peat restoration and wetland creation, it is possible to help slow the flow of water, reducing flood risk downstream in a way that complements more traditional engineering such as flood defence walls and embankments.

These measures also naturally absorb carbon from the atmosphere, playing an important role in the region reaching net zero emissions, and will contribute to the vision of a Northern Forest across South Yorkshire.

By coming together for the launch of the initiative, partners across the region demonstrated their shared ambitions for collaboration across the catchment, and in doing so, rising to the challenges of the climate and nature emergencies. Councillors and senior staff from organisations across the region including Environment Agency, Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham Councils, Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Don Catchment Rivers Trust, Sheffield City Region, the Woodland Trust, Forestry Commission and Moors for the Future were in attendance for the event at Brooks Bank Farm, near Underbank Reservoir, Stocksbridge.  Click here to read more