Looking back to this time last year the East Midlands saw severe disruptions due to flooding. The trains between Derby and Nottingham were cancelled and several Nottinghamshire villages along with Ilkeston, Stoney Stanton and Long Whatton were badly affected, with many roads inaccessible. The recorded economic losses attributed to the 2019/2020 floods were estimated at £333 million.
Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme
On Monday, 9th November, to coincide with the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, DEFRA announced a Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme with the aim to help communities improve resilience to flooding and coastal change. £200 million has been allocated to improve the resilience of communities at risk of flooding and coastal change across England.
The programme opened on 9th November and will involve 25 areas that will benefit from innovative approaches to improving resilience to flooding and coastal change to include planting trees, restoring peatland or making more individual changes such as making changes in people’s homes.
The Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme particularly highlighted their interest in implementing nature-based solutions that increase the resilience to flooding and coastal change which should provide secondary benefits, such as:
- Managing water levels;
- Improving water quality;
- Reducing drought risks;
- Helping nature recover; and
- Mitigating the impacts of climate change.
“Rewilding” programmes have long been proposed by environmentalists as one solution to the climate crisis, popularised in 2018 by Isabella Tree’s story of transforming the Knepp Estate in Sussex “Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm”, David Attenborough’s most recent Netflix documentary and frequent nods to wild meadows in landscape design in 2020.
Local authorities have been invited to express an interest in becoming one of the areas selected with each area receiving around £6 million between 2021 and 2027. This is in addition to the £5.2 billion already pledged in flood and sea defences in the March budget.
The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 places a statutory duty on the Environment Agency to develop a strategy to deal with flood and coastal erosion risk. Each local authority should seek to better manage any risks and consequences of flooding from rivers, the sea, groundwater, reservoirs, watercourses, surface water, sewers and coastal erosion.
The 25 selected areas will receive initial funding to develop their project proposals into detailed plans during Spring 2021 before projects formally begin in Summer 2021.
How can Nelsons help?
For further information on the subjects discussed in this article, please contact a member of our expert Commercial Property team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.