Cumbria natural flood management to get slice of £25 million funding

The projects are set to benefit from a £25 million government programme, Floods Minister Robbie Moore announced today (Friday 23 February).

The methods include planting trees and creating wetlands to reduce the risk of flooding and are part of the government’s plan to increase the nation’s flood resilience.

Natural flood management processes protect, restore, and mimic the natural functions of catchments, floodplains and the coast to slow and store water.

The community, charity and council projects in Cumbria set to benefit from the £25 million Natural Flood Management are:

National Trust, Common Farm Hydrological Restoration - the farm sits above the town of Windermere. The National Trust's project will create wetlands and open water areas.  Drain blocking will bring water to the surface.

This hydrological restoration will slow surface water flows, reducing flood risk downstream at Windermere.

The completed scheme will be an exemplar of farming with nature, with the nature-based solutions operating across the scheme to improve water quality.

National Trust, Resilient Coledale West Cumbria Rivers Trust - will manage run off at High Coledale with ditch blocking, and targeted tree planting. 

Cross slope planting will help to slow the flow.  Slowing flows here will reduce the chance and impact of flooding in the village of Braithwaite, near Keswick.

Wider benefits include improvements to water quality, thriving plants and wildlife, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Brampton 2 Zero CiC - This project will use measures at Fell Moss, Moss House and Towan Bank.  These measures will create additional water storage upstream of Brampton, Cumbria. Grip blocking at Fell Moss will extend and enhance existing wetland habitat, to increase water storage in this natural basin. 

The project will explore options to re-naturalise the Brampton Beck at Moss House, using fencing to minimise livestock erosion of the banks.

The project will create additional flood storage upstream of a culvert inlet at Towan Bank. Wider benefits include peat restoration at Fell Moss.

The announcement comes after a wide range of applications were submitted to the Environment Agency by community groups, environmental charities and councils for grants, following the launch of the largest-ever investment in natural flood management schemes in September last year. 

The Environment Agency led a review of these applications, with input from Defra and Natural England. 

Environment Agency chair Alan Lovell said: "It’s exciting to see such appetite for Natural Flood Management, recognising its value in providing not only benefits against flood risk but also wider support for nature recovery.

"I’m proud of the role the Environment Agency is playing in leading this pioneering programme. We look forward to working with partners to help natural techniques become a mainstream option for flood protection and help create more climate resilient places."

The new funding builds on the £15m natural flood management pilot programme which ran until 2021, creating the equivalent of 1.6 million cubic metres of water storage and reducing flood risk to 15,000 homes.

The Environment Agency is managing the new £25 million programme with work taking place from now until March 2027.

To find out more about the Natural Flood Management Programme and for a full list of successful projects refer to the Gov.uk pages.