Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Natural Flood Management.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust and partners have created four entertaining and engaging Creature Comforts-style animations to highlight how NFM can help protect Cumbria’s homes, businesses and farms.

Funded by the Environment Agency the short films demonstrate how these techniques decrease flooding downstream, reduce the impact of drought on land, and reduce pollutants in water.

NFM is a catch-all term for a variety of landscaping techniques used to hold water back during flood events, which reduce the impact downstream on buildings and infrastructure such as bridges.

The techniques include restoring peatland, so it soaks up water instead of it draining into rivers; re-meandering rivers to slow down the fast flow of water, which is more likely in straightened rivers; and protecting flood plains from development.

The four animated films provide a unique opportunity to recreate the varied Cumbrian landscapes and meet several lovable characters who explain the different NFM techniques, bringing the topic to life.

The animations were produced in partnership with the Environment Agency who provided funding, while StudioDOK provided the film making expertise.

The four characters are narrated by ‘local voices’, including David Kennedy and Michael Farrell from the Environment Agency, John Gorst from United Utilities and Abigail Kennedy, a Cumbrian art and photography teacher.

  • Pete the frog, talks to us about restoring peatlands and the benefits this has. Pete explains that healthy peatland holds back water during flood events, cleans drinking water, and stores carbon that would otherwise be released, as well as providing valuable habitat for wildlife.
  • Russell the Border Collie dog explains how holding back water temporarily on farmland can slow the flow of water through communities downstream to reduce flooding and reduce damage to farm infrastructure.  Using techniques to make grassland permeable, so it holds on to more water, can increase grass growth making it more resilient to drought caused by climate change.
  • Brook the otter talks about how floodplains can play an important part in managing flooding by storing water for a short while to take pressure of communities, but that this requires careful consideration as it is highly valuable farm land. NFM can work with farming and can help limit the damage done by flooding to farms. Parts of many floodplains have been lost to housing developments because of how flat it is.
  • Fin the fish, gives the case for natural rivers. Fin explains that rivers have been straightened, giving less space for water and speeding up flow. This increases the likelihood of flooding downstream, affecting homes, businesses and bridges. Wiggly rivers are more likely to hold back debris like mud, rocks and tree branches, and stop the debris getting stuck under bridges downstream.

Watch the films

 

 

National Flood Forum webinars

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flood Mitigation, insurance - Flood Re, National Flood Forum Bulletins, Natural Flood Management, Planning, SuDS.

National Flood Forum has been arranging a series of zoom meetings during lockdown with a series of expert speakers. Topics covered a range of relevant topics including ‘Working with local Councils’, ‘Weather forecasting’, ‘Digital maps’, ‘Riparian owners and management’, ‘Natural Flood Management’, ‘Working with water companies’, ‘Planning framework’, ‘SUDS and adoption’. These have been immensely useful… Read more »

Flood and Coast Conference Report and Video

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Emergency Planning, Flood Mitigation, FRAMES, Natural Flood Management, Nottingham Trent University, Trent Rivers Trust, Watercourse Clearing.

This is usually a national two-day event at Telford and Tim Farr and Jacky Huson attended in 2017 when Tim was invited to give a presentation on Southwell Flood Forum and be on a panel. This year they are offering a series of webinars, the first of which is Creating Climate Resilient Places. These digital… Read more »

How Natural Flood Management improved flood-risk resilience in Southwell

Posted & filed under Flood Mitigation, Natural Flood Management, Nottingham Trent University, SuDS, Trent Rivers Trust.

The Southwell FRAMES Pilot Trent Rivers Trust (TRT) led the Southwell Pilot project, which sought to improve flood resilience in Southwell through natural flood management (NFM) intervention and community engagement. During its three-year lifespan Southwell’s FRAMES project improved flood-risk resilience in the present day and for the future. On Trent Rivers Trust website you can… Read more »

Natural Flood Management news

Posted & filed under Blog, Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Natural Flood Management, Trent Rivers Trust.

Work continues to transform Southwell’s flood defences Nottinghamshire County Council is working alongside Trent Rivers Trust, local farmers and various partners to drastically improve flood defences in Southwell. This work forms part of a wider scheme worth up to £5m which will involve engineering work to construct new flood defences across the town as well… Read more »

Celebrating the FRAMES project: Improving Flood Resilience within Southwell

Posted & filed under Blog, Community Resilience, Events, FRAMES, Natural Flood Management, Trent Rivers Trust.

Work to improve Southwell’s flood resilience is being celebrated at a free event at Southwell Library on 11 March, 6.00pm – 8.30pm.  The event, open to all residents, will showcase the work undertaken by Southwell Flood Forum, National Flood Forum, Trent Rivers Trust and Nottinghamshire County Council as part of the FRAMES project ‘Improving Flood… Read more »

The impact of flooding on communities – “Start the Week” Radio 4

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flooding News, Natural Flood Management.

Radio 4 ‘Start the Week’ – Monday 9th December 2020 Flooding remains a risk in many parts of the country this winter. Andrew Marr explores the impact of water on communities. The engineer David Lerner argues for the extension of the policy of daylighting – opening up rivers covered over by the Victorians. He says… Read more »

Barriers to the uptake and implementation of natural flood management

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Flood Mitigation, FRAMES, Natural Flood Management, Nottingham Trent University, Trent Rivers Trust.

Josh Wells has just completed his PhD on flooding in Southwell at Nottingham Trent University and as part of his research, implemented many natural flood management interventions on Brackenhurst’s upland catchment land. He was subsequently employed by Trent Rivers Trust in the FRAMES project and has implemented many more NFM interventions in the upland catchment… Read more »

Property Flood Resilience – Drop in sessions – Wednesday 15th and 22nd May – 2.30pm to 7.30pm

Posted & filed under Community Resilience, Events, Flood Mitigation, Natural Flood Management, Trent Rivers Trust.

Property Flood Resilience – Drop in sessions Wednesday 15th and 22nd May – 2.30 to 7.30pm Admiral Rodney, King Street, Southwell. The Southwell Flood Alleviation Scheme is moving forward and one of the initial proposals to be implemented is to design and install Property Flood Resilience measures for a number of homes to help protect… Read more »