Natural flood management programme
Increase flood resilience with Natural Flood Management
Applies to England
Natural flood management (NFM) uses natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding. These processes protect, restore, and mimic the natural functions of catchments, floodplains and the coast to slow and store water.
NFM measures can include:
- soil and land management
- river and floodplain management
- woodland management
- run-off management
- coast and estuary management
NFM can also provide wider benefits including:
- enhancing habitats and biodiversity
- improving water quality and availability of drinking water
- improving carbon capture
- boosting health and wellbeing
Slowing the flow with leaky dams within the Surrey Hills area. Photo credit: Andrew Turton, Defra Communications
The NFM programme
In September 2023 the Environment Agency and Defra announced 拢25 million funding for improving flood resilience through a new NFM programme.
The Environment Agency is managing this programme.
The NFM Programme will help meet the aims of the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy (FCERM) for England.
The programme will build on and apply what we learnt from the 拢15 million NFM pilot programme, which included 60 projects between 2017 and 2021.
We want people and places to make greater use of nature-based solutions. This will help enhance flood and coast resilience and nature recovery as set out in the FCERM Strategy Roadmap to 2026.
The programme aims
The programme aims to:
- reduce local flood risk using NFM
- provide wider benefits to the environment, nature and society
- accelerate new and existing opportunities for NFM delivery and financing
- further improve evidence of NFM by filling knowledge gaps
Eligible NFM measures include:聽聽
- soil and land management聽
- river and floodplain management聽
- woodland management聽
- run-off management聽聽
- coast and estuary management
You can find out more in the NFM prospectus.
We invited applications from a wide range of groups, including:聽
- farmers聽
- landowners聽
- environmental non-governmental organisations (including wildlife trusts, rivers trusts)聽
- catchment groups聽聽
- risk management authorities (including Environment Agency)聽
There was huge interest with a wide variety of applications from across England. We independently reviewed these with input from Defra and Natural England technical experts.聽聽聽
36 projects are ready for implementation 聽
Thirty-six project business cases are complete.聽 The teams are getting ready to carry out work on the ground.
These are:
- Brampton 2 Zero CiC: Brampton NFM project바카라 사이트�
- Cheshire Wildlife Trust: Meols NFM scheme바카라 사이트�
- City of Doncaster Council: Bentley NFM opportunities바카라 사이트�
- City of Trees Trust: Crompton Moor Slow the Flow Leaky Dams바카라 사이트�
- Community Forest Trust: Whitewell Brook NFM바카라 사이트�
- Dorset AONB Partnership (hosted by Dorset Council): West Dorset聽Rivers & Coastal Streams NFM programme바카라 사이트�
- East Mercia Rivers Trust: Field Beck NFM 바카라 사이트� Holdingham, Sleaford바카라 사이트�
- Essex County Council: Hockley Woods Leaky Dams바카라 사이트�
- Future Landscapes Trust: Marsham Valley NFM partnership聽聽
- Leicester City Council: Leicester Urban NFM 바카라 사이트� Willow Brook聽catchment바카라 사이트�
- Lincolnshire County Council: Barrow Beck chalk stream restoration
- Lincolnshire County Council: Building Flood Resilience in the River聽Rase catchment바카라 사이트�
- London Borough of Hillingdon: Pinn Meadows NFM聽
- Mersey Rivers Trust: Alt catchment NFM바카라 사이트�
- National Trust: Common Farm hydrological restoration
- National Trust: Northey Island causeway saltmarsh management바카라 사이트�
- National Trust: Poynton and Micker (Norbury) catchment plan聽(Headwaters)바카라 사이트�
- National Trust: Resilient Coledale바카라 사이트�
- National Trust: Swan Brook wetlands바카라 사이트�
- Norfolk County Council: North Attleborough flood alleviation聽scheme바카라 사이트�
- Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust: Saving Worksop and Shireoaks聽through NFM
- Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Clitheroe聽community catchment聽聽
- Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Darwen聽community catchment바카라 사이트�
- Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Wrea聽Green community catchment바카라 사이트�
- River Waveney Trust: Diss NFM바카라 사이트�
- Royal Borough of Greenwich Council: Marsh Dykes and聽Thamesmead flood alleviation network바카라 사이트�
- RSPB: Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment (BUDS) in the Blackwater Estuary바카라 사이트�
- Severn Rivers Trust: Illey Brook NFM바카라 사이트�
- Sidbury Manor Estate: Sidbury Manor Estate and the River Sid聽catchment바카라 사이트�
- South East Rivers Trust: High Weald AONB NFM project (Alder Stream)聽聽
- South Oxfordshire District Council: The Goggs, Watlington NFM聽scheme바카라 사이트�
- Surrey County Council: Ash Ranges NFM바카라 사이트�
- The Friends of Cannizaro Park: Cannizaro Park NFM聽programme바카라 사이트�
- Westcountry Rivers Trust and Environment Agency: Climate Resilient Otter Catchment (CROC)
- Westcountry Rivers Trust: Climate Resilient Mevagissey바카라 사이트�
- Wyre River Trust: Wyre Catchment resilience programme
We are also working with 2 projects to make their business cases stronger.聽
These are:
- Environment Agency: Middle Brook NFM
- Nottinghamshire County Council: Cropwell Butler NFM
A variety of communities and habitats will benefit from these 38 projects across England.聽 They cover urban to rural, upland to lowland and inland to coastal locations.聽聽聽
These projects will carry out a mixture of NFM measures at a range of scales. They will seek to manage flood risk from a variety of sources including from rivers, surface water and the sea.聽聽
The measures include:聽
- new NFM features, such as leaky barriers, wet woodlands, ponds and wetlands 바카라 사이트� these will help to slow and store high flows, reducing the chance and impact of flooding downstream聽
- soil and land management 바카라 사이트� which will slow and store surface water runoff, while also reducing soil erosion and improving water quality聽
- new woodland areas and hedgerows 바카라 사이트� which will support wetland complexes and the creation of new habitats聽
- expansion and enhancement of saltmarsh and sand dune systems - these natural barriers will break wave action and reduce the risk of tidal flooding to local communities
Work will take place on these projects between now and 31 March 2027.聽 This will involve a range of organisations including:聽聽
- wildlife trusts聽
- rivers trusts聽聽
- local authorities working with local communities聽
- farmers聽聽
- landowners聽聽
Updates to this page
-
Added 2 projects to the list of projects ready for implementation - 'Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust: Saving Worksop and Shireoaks through NFM' and 'Westcountry Rivers Trust and Environment Agency: Climate Resilient Otter Catchment (CROC)'.
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Removal of outdated information in the NFM programme section. Added an updated list of projects ready for implementation and developing stronger business cases.
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Removed details of how to apply to the NFM programme and replaced with details of the 40 successful projects chosen for the programme.
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First published.