Written evidence from the Countryside and Community Research Institute (FFP 74)

Written evidence submitted by the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire in collaboration with the Rural Sustainable Urban Drainage project (Stroud District Council) and Upper Thames Catchment Partnership and the Water with Integrated Local Delivery Project http://www.fwagsw.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/esters-page/ (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest). 

Executive Summary

  1. The authors of this response have direct experience of practical and effective flood management approaches, working with local communities and limited resources to achieve significant impacts. Whilst our response makes no direct response to the questions •How adequately do defences protect communities and agricultural land from floods and do current funding arrangements target spending in the right way? And •How effectively do Defra and the Environment Agency’s policies encourage innovative approaches to managing risk such as slowing the flow of water in urban and rural river catchment areas and promoting water storage?; we believe that the lessons from our work show clearly where Defra and the EA’s policies and approach could be modified to improve outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of flood management interventions.
  2. In summary, our work to date suggests that by investing in locally-delivered preventative work upstream in catchments, to reduce the severity of flood instances downstream, the risks of and the damage done by flooding across England could be significantly reduced. Most of the costs of the approach are in sustained facilitation, communication and co-ordination rather than in capital works. Also, benefits can be much wider than simply a reduction in flood damage, because these approaches stimulate local stakeholder involvement and shared responsibility for land and water management. Whilst we know that the relevant agencies are engaged and supportive of our work at a local level, we believe that the approach has national relevance and could be rolled out across England and Wales at relatively low cost to the exchequer, promoting significantly increased local understanding and direct engagement with flood management challenges and practices.  

Introduction

The authors of this response have direct experience of practical and effective flood management approaches, working with local communities and limited resources to achieve significant impacts.

Whilst our response makes no direct response to the questions 

How adequately do defences protect communities and agricultural land from floods and do current funding arrangements target spending in the right way? and 

How effectively do Defra and the Environment Agency’s policies encourage innovative approaches to managing risk such as slowing the flow of water in urban and rural river catchment areas and promoting water storage?

- we believe that the lessons from our work show clearly where Defra and the EA’s policies and approach could be modified to improve outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of flood management interventions, in future. Thus, our submission responds mostly to the second and third area of interest set out by the EFRA committee, with some links to the other areas.  In this submission we outline two innovative projects that are supported by the EA and other Defra partners but delivered locally through a collaboration of experts and local stakeholders.  They both use the framework offered by the Catchment-based approach, though in slightly different ways.  One is based around a local authority and the other a multi-organisation framework that crosses administrative boundaries.

The Stroud Rural Sustainable Drainage project is run through the District Council using funding from the Severn and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC) to employ a project officer, Chris Uttley.  Chris’ key task is to implement and promote rural sustainable drainage in the Frome catchment. There is a formal partnership between Gloucestershire County Council, The Environment Agency, the RFCC and Stroud District Council and this links to several flood action groups in the catchment. 

In the first year of the project well over 150 structures have been installed in sections of the Frome catchment, especially the Slad valley.  The image below shows a wooded valley of 200 hectares where over 100 structures have been introduced into the water bodies.  The cost of these structures was about £20-30,000 in total with no annual payments to landowners or farmers and no impact on cross-compliance under CAP.  Structurally they are too small to require costly planning permission although some are pinned to prevent movement at times of high flow.  The images below show the structures in dry and wet conditions. The flood attenuation area is estimated to hold about 5,000 cubic litres.  In a recent storm where 40mm of rain fell in a few hours no downstream flooding was experienced, unlike previous years where this had been the case.

Figure 1 Map showing position of over 80 natural flood management features in a 200 ha of the Slad Valley near Stroud.

Figures 2 & 3 Area of water attenuation in summer (right) and in winter (left) after rainfall.

Figures 4 & 5 Series of leaky dams in summer after installation (right) and in winter (left) after rainfall.

The multiple structures perform three important functions:

The full impact of these installations is currently being estimated but the early signs from this winter are encouraging.  It is important to note that there is widespread local support for the project and members of local flood fora have participated in creating these structures.  Local landowners and farmers are now visiting the areas where they have been installed to see how they work, and the project is well on target to have over 500 installed at the end of the three years and aspires to over 1,000 in five years. 

The second project is the Water and Integrated Local Delivery (WILD) project based around the Cotswold Water Park within the Upper Thames Catchment Partnership area.  The aim of the WILD project is to address water issues across the entire Upper Thames catchment, connecting up the landscape like a jigsaw through linking parishes along water bodies and delivering projects of multiple benefits to landowners and local communities, linked to parish and neighbourhood planning.  The emphasis is on reconciling different viewpoints and using stakeholder consensus rather than regulation to introduce actions on the ground aimed at improving the ecological status of the water bodies in the Cotswold Water Park. 

Figure 6 Map of WILD project area (black lines) within the Upper Thames catchment 

The defined project area covers some 25,000 hectares and has developed a framework for delivering Good Ecological Status in the medium (2021) and long (2027) term.  Now in its final year the project has adopted a strong partnership approach aimed at embedding the protection of water quality within local governance to ensure long term sustainability.

The main achievements of WILD have been:

Figure 7 Map of Siddingtion showing water flow using LIDAR data

Figure 8 Map showing water flow in Fairford in all water courses and ditches

As a result the WILD project is able to demonstrate the value of facilitation and integrated advice with a doubling of initial financial investment by the EA in water improvement across the WILD project area.  This investment has been provided by ‘in-kind contributions’ from farmers and local communities and other agencies like Natural England and Thames Water.  The increased communication has resulted in increased awareness of the role and remit of all the organisations involved in managing the water environment, which has led to evidence of changes in behaviour amongst the farming community towards WFD and related objectives.  Awareness within communities has also increased, especially concerning the roles and responsibilities of riparian owners.  This is beneficial when considering the need to work together in pursuit of WFD objectives. Communities within the project area are increasingly confident that they are able and willing to work in a proactive and coordinated way with statutory bodies using a shared problem-solving approach. 

The WILD project has shown that such a project works at the catchment-scale and is now finalizing a project template that is transferable to other areas via enabling delivery against their statutory duty for multiple stakeholders, including integrated advisory, facilitation and reporting structures.  In collaboration with ACRE, the project team has developed and disseminated The Community Guide to the Water Environment including a case study on its Integrated Planning tool.

The eight key conclusions of particular pertinence to the EFRA Committee Inquiry that we draw from these 2 projects are as follows.

  1. The CaBA approach offers a useful framework as a basis for integrated catchment management covering issues relating to WFD and flooding.  However, it is poorly funded with funds approaching a mere £1/km2 in some catchments.  These examples show what is possible with the initiative of local organisations, such as local authorities or organisations like FWAGSW.
  2. A small re-focusing of funds within the Environment Agency to treat the causes of flooding rather than the floods themselves would provide sufficient monies to fund this type of initiative more widely.  For example, scaling up both projects to cover the whole of England would cost in the region of £40 million across 108 catchments, which is only 7% of what the EA currently spends each year on flood action.  This is also the amount that the EA spends on activities like dredging in a small number of locations across England
  3. The Defra policy for the catchment-based approach (CaBA) can be used to support integrated delivery at a catchment level, linked to sustainable growth.  This can be scaled up at the River Basin Planning level to ensure the sound management and governance of river basins.
  4. As a policy mechanism, WFD can be used as a conduit for a broad and more inclusive approach to water management in a catchment that includes natural flood management and management of the Highways road verges where roads currently funnel water to the centre of our communities.
  5. The opportunity to divert water through better surface flow management at a local event and the  integration of biodiversity and water within Countryside Stewardship have potential to contribute to a reduction in flood risk but a significant amount can also be achieved through local discussions and ‘in-kind’ contributions without the need for direct agri-environment payments to underpin these less formal actions and commitments.
  6. Facilitators and specialist organisers are critical in influencing and steering the local take-up of integrated approaches to achieve maximum benefit.  These people should be based locally within recognizable accountable bodies rather than being employed by national agencies.  They could be upskilled from within existing environmental delivery organisations to focus on the delivery of projects for multiple benefits and increase community and business resilience.
  7. The added value of involving a wide range of local people – community groups, local business and community leaders and other groups – in the planning and carrying out of low-key water and flood management activities should not be underestimated, as a means of encouraging resilience to climate impacts. It increases shared understanding of issues and helps to empower people to make a real difference themselves rather than simply blaming others, when challenges arise.
  8. Shared problem solving across a catchment is a viable and effective approach to integrated catchment management that will complement and potentially reduce the need for more conventional flood defence approaches, in the medium to long term.

March 2016

 

[i] Lidar (light detection and ranging) is an optical remote-sensing technique that uses laser light to densely sample the surface of the earth, producing highly accurate x,y,z measurements.