North West schemes win share of £150m to increase protection against flooding

Three North West locations are among 25 projects across England to benefit from £150m of funding to test and develop new ways to respond to flooding.

The projects include cutting-edge flood forecasting and natural flood management schemes, such as apps alerting residents to danger, permeable raod surfaces to improve drainage, and schemes to protect vital sand dune beaches.

The funding boost follows a record £5.2bn investment in flood defences over the next six years.

The pioneering projects, led by local authorities are part of the Government’s new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme and will be managed by the Environment Agency. They are part of the Government’s long term plan on flood and coastal erosion and a renewed effort to develop and test new approaches to tackle these threats.

The schemes will trial a wide range of different approaches to resilience, tailored to local communities. The North West schemes are:

• Cumbria – This project aims to test a range of solutions to improve resilience to flooding, including working with farmers and landowners to deliver natural flood management projects such as leaky dams, tree planting and flood storage to slow the flow and store floodwaters in a range of locations.
• Rochdale – The project plans to target deprived and hard-to-reach communities in the Roch Valley, with high turnover and rented accommodation. The project is looking to proactively install property flood resilience, such as flood gates, across homes and local small businesses.
• Wyre – The project aims to enhance the coastal resilience of North West coastal communities to the consequences of climate change, such as from erosion and coastal flooding by creating Ecological Community Owned Coastal Buffer Strips – which could include natural wooden barriers to capture sediment, seeding of plants, establishing saltmarshes – that also capture carbon.

Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, said: “We’re investing a record £5.2bn in 2,000 new flood and coastal defences over the next six years – but with the effects of climate change already being felt it’s vital that we combine this with long term approaches to improve communities’ resilience.

“These 25 projects will not only help to inform future approaches to prepare communities for flooding and coastal change across the country, but also help reinforce the UK’s position as a world leader in innovation and new technology as we build back better.”

Ben Scott area flood and coastal risk manager for Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, said: “This funding is fantastic news for Rochdale and we are grateful to our partners who ensured the success of this bid.

“With this boost, projects will be able to demonstrate how practical innovative actions can work to improve long term resilience to flooding.”

Adrian Lythgo, chair of the North West Regional Flood and Coast Committee, said: “The local collaboration between organisations and communities underpinning these projects provides a strong foundation for further significant investment in flood resilience across the North West.”

The funding is in addition to the government’s record £5.2bn investment in new flood and coastal defences to better protect 336,000 properties across England by 2027.

The 25 areas have been selected following an expressions of interest process managed by Defra and the Environment Agency and assessed by an independent expert panel.