Flooding is the UK’s most serious natural hazard with one in six homes in the UK at risk. Only a third of people living in properties with a flood risk are aware of it, and almost two thirds don’t believe it will happen to them. And yet, when floods occur, they can blight lives and livelihoods for years. We know that taking flood action will save up to 10 times the cost of doing nothing, so what can we do?
Find out more about projects in the UK that are preparing for and combating flood risks, or jump ahead to learn more about what you can do in your area to do something bigger.
Inspiration read
Managing flood risk and coastal erosion in England
Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme
The FCRIP is part of the government’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. The programme is made up of 25 projects across England, which address current and future flood risks from the sea, rivers, groundwater and surface water. This ambitious and wide-ranging programme encourages local councils, companies and communities to collaborate locally and test new ways of preparing for flooding and coastal changes – so we can reduce the cost to people and places of future damage and disruption.
Innovative flood resilience actions
The resilience actions taken by communities in towns, cities and rural areas in this programme go beyond those typically funded by the government. They cover 25 very different opportunities, from new kinds of nature-based solutions and integrated water management, to community infrastructure and local emergency response equipment, to community preparedness and enhanced flood warning systems, to monitoring local assets and better protection for local businesses. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: combinations of different resilience actions work together to provide even bigger improvements in resilience to flooding and coastal change than simply scaling individual actions.
Copying your perfect programme
FCRIP will run until 2027, but you don’t need to wait to see what’s already working. In doing something this big, there is a programme underway of interest to almost everyone. Any of these schemes – from actions at coastal or catchment level, to groundwater and sustainable drainage, to working with new technology – can be co-created, with either this larger agency or the community leading the collaboration. And as more people trial these programmes, they help provide useful cost-benefit evidence and practical learning on how to overcome the potential barriers, so even more local areas can take up similar programmes..
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Inspiration listen
Do Something Bigger
What would inspire you to do something bigger for climate and nature? In this, the first episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast series, Do Something Bigger, we introduce our year-long campaign: 25…
Do something bigger
Bigger, collective efforts play a crucial role in the complex challenges of flood preparedness and in improving our resilience to flooding. In tackling rising water levels where it knows no boundaries, we too need to come together and cooperate across neighbourhood and organisation boundaries.
Form a flood action group
You can form a flood action group in your community, working with key agencies to scope and manage your flood risk, create a community flood plan and look at how to develop a community flood scheme. A great place to look for everything you need to set up your flood action group and reduce the increasing risks to health and home is The Flood Hub. Another useful resource in helping communities working in partnership to minimise flood disruption is Flood Mary, led by Mary Long-Dhonau OBE who has been flooded herself on many occasions.
Have a blue green plan for natural flood defences
The city of Hull, situated in a natural bowl making it prone to flooding by tides, river and rain, has created the Living With Water Partnership, to address flood risks in a sustainable way that will provide resilience for businesses and communities. To prepare for and adapt to climate change – including rising tide levels and more intense and frequent rainfall – a collaborative Blue Green Plan for the area has been developed. It’s a long-term vision that involves using blue (water) and green (vegetation) infrastructure to manage surface water and flooding; a bigger vision of living with water in a green and climate-adaptive place.
Collaborate to manage water within the landscape
Stroud Valleys Natural Flood Management project is a great example of many flood-related initiatives where collaboration is needed across different organisations and often over a wider area than we typically think. Working with landowners, community flood groups and partner organisations, Stroud District Council is taking a ‘whole catchment’ approach to slowing flows and restoring more natural drainage – fully integrating into land management practices to reduce risk of flooding, improve water quality and recover nature.
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