Forty projects which will use natural processes such as planting trees and creating wetlands to reduce the risk of flooding are set to benefit from a £25 million government programme, Floods Minister Robbie Moore announced today (Friday 23 February).

Part of the government’s plan to increase the nation’s flood resilience, natural flood management processes protect, restore, and mimic the natural functions of catchments, floodplains and the coast to slow and store water.

Community, charity and council projects set to benefit from the £25 million Natural Flood Management programme include:

Severn Rivers Trust will carry out a mixture of natural flood management measures in the headwaters of Illey Brook, near Halesowen in the West Midlands. Many of these works will focus on soil and land management – slowing and storing surface water runoff, while also reducing soil erosion and supporting agriculture. New woodland areas and hedgerows will support wetland complexes and the creation of new habitats.

The Ribble Rivers Trust has proposed a number of projects focusing on slowing river flows across the Ribble catchment, in Darwen, Clitheroe and Lea Green. Swales, ponds and leaky barriers across watercourses will slow and store floodwater in the upper reaches of the River Darwen catchment, whilst vegetation management and new woodland will intercept the flow of water as it runs downhill, reducing runoff and enabling water to be stored in the soil.

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