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

Environment minister Thérèse 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.

24 other catchment scale projects have also been allocated funding to develop larger scale projects which will benefit wider areas; with Cumbria, Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire and Wolsingham all receiving over £1m of funding.

Environment minister Thérèse Coffey said:

“This funding will help more than 50 projects around the country take full advantage of innovative natural flood management measures. Flood defence technology and engineering is better than ever and by using a mix of natural and concrete defences, we can provide the best flood protection for individual areas.

Methods such as restoring floodplains and planting trees will not only help protect families, homes and businesses from flooding, they will also bring environmental benefits to the wider area and all the people who live in these many communities.  Click here to read more