Natural flood defence campaigners visit Parliament

Campaigners who are passionate about building natural flood defences to protect their local area are meeting MPs on Wednesday to tell them about their work.

Slow the Flow is a charity in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, which was set up after the area was hit by devastating floods in December 2015.

The group were invited to Parliament by their MP Josh Fenton-Glynn to talk about their work in the hope they can help shape the government's flood management policy.

Adrian Horton, the charity's chair, said their most successful project to date was at Hardcastle Crags in Hebden Bridge, where volunteers had built more than 1,000 leaky wooden dams to slow the flow of water into the Calder Valley.

He said they had worked with the National Trust on the project since 2017.

"Leaky woody dams, if you put them into tributaries and small streams, slow the flow of water into the larger rivers," he said.

"They all serve to create that slowing effect of water into the valley bottom, which if you do it enough times, has an effect of reducing the flood risk... into our towns and villages.

"The work that we've been doing at Hardcastle Crags has been really important to prove a point, and to prove that this kind of work can work."

The group travelled to Parliament last year to lobby government on natural flood defences, but are going again now there is a Labour government.

They plan to tell MPs about their "key messages" which include prioritising sustainable drainage systems for sewer overflows, stopping excess water flowing into rivers and streams, increasing funding to natural flood management schemes and developing skills and expertise in environmental issues.

Mr Horton said they also wanted every local authority to follow Calderdale Council's example by appointing a natural flood management officer.

Meanwhile, in Leeds work is also taking place to slow the flow of water and reduce pressure on the city's flood defences.

The Aire Resilience Company (ARC) was launched last week to help deliver long-term natural flood management interventions in the Aire Valley.

It is a collaboration between Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Trust as a direct response to the threat of climate change and increasing flood risk.

Leeds City Council said ARC's work would complement the recently-completed £200m Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, which protects the city and surrounding areas from extreme flooding.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, the council's deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport, and sustainable development, said: "By supporting nature-based solutions alongside our major flood defence schemes, we are not only strengthening flood resilience but also contributing to our wider environmental and net zero ambitions."

The Environment Agency has said it is committed to reducing future flood risk to communities in Calderdale.

A spokesperson said: "We have completed schemes in Mytholmroyd, Shaw Wood Road in Todmorden and most recently in Copley Village.

"Construction is under way in Brighouse, along with several other projects in advance stages of development such as Hebden Bridge, Wheatley in Halifax, Walsden and Back Waterloo in Todmorden.

"Natural flood management will play an important part in reducing flood risk in Calderdale by working in unison with traditional flood alleviation schemes."

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