Defra uses nature to fight floods
A project in the Holnicote Estate, near Minehead in Somerset is receiving a total of £1 million from Defra to demonstrate how natural resources can help protect against flooding
Mark Walsingham, the National Trust's Catchment and Water Advisor said: "The project at Holnicote will reduce the risk of flash floods affecting the beautiful villages of the Holnicote Estate. The project will work "from source to sea" across the estate, restoring upland peat bogs, creating new woodlands and water meadows in the valley of the River Aller and restoring the coastal marshes. In partnership with the Environment Agency we will demonstrate the wide benefits of using good land management to reduce flood risk."
The project will use land management techniques to manage local flood risk, for example by slowing down water flows through steep valleys and retaining water on lowland meadows. These techniques can also have wider environmental benefits including encouraging wildlife species to the area.
Environment Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: "As climate change takes hold we are already seeing flood risk around the country changing, so it's important that we do all we can to protect ourselves and our communities.
"This project will look at ways of doing just that in communities that don't have traditional flood defences, by changing the way that land is managed and trying things like creating wetlands and planting trees to hold water away from areas at risk of flooding."
