The major flood conference – ‘Natural Flood Management: Enabling Partnerships and Action’ – which is taking place on Wednesday 25th January at the University of Gloucestershire Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester is now fully subscribed. However, you will be able to follow the events during the day using the hashtag #GlosNFM17.
The conference is aimed at building partnerships between local communities, flood groups, local authorities and land managers to deliver effective natural flood management at the local scale and has been organised by the CCRI (University of Gloucestershire) and Stroud District Council. It will link directly to a project that CCRI’s Chris Short has been working on with Stroud District Council, building natural flood management in the catchment area of the Stroud River Frome.
The project is called the Rural Sustainable Drainage System (RSuDs), which is a type of natural flood management that implements techniques to reduce flood risk by improving and restoring natural habitats to restore and make use of natural drainage processes. Measures include creating ephemeral ponds and wetlands to hold flood waters and remove silt, improving connectivity between water courses and flood plains and providing new habitats for wetland and aquatic species.
Chris said:
“The aim of the conference is to increase the number of projects with natural flood management in them, reducing the barriers and increasing the opportunities. The university is pleased to host the event and to be a partner in the Stroud project, something that we are delighted our students have been able to contribute to as well as the CCRI’s research expertise, which will support this important local project for the long-term.”
“It will describe the real partnerships established to enable Stroud District Council to deliver the project and will be relevant to all those planning or working towards implementing natural flood management projects, particularly those working in local government, members of community flood groups and representatives of land owners.”
Delegates will benefit from senior speakers from the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire County Council and national experts on building partnerships and community engagement; creating effective and long lasting partnerships; and facilitating natural flood management projects on the ground.
There will also be an opportunity to visit one of the Stroud project’s worksites.
Stroud News and Journal ran a long article on the conference on 18th January, 2017.
The agenda can also be viewed on the event conference page though all places have now been taken. For any queries, please email: NFMconference@stroud.gov.uk
The Stroud rural sustainable drainage project was recently awarded a 2016 Gloucestershire CPRE award for ‘innovative use of natural resources, including land and water’.
The CCRI worked with Stroud District Council to produce a film which won the ‘best green award’ at the fourth Stroud Community TV awards in March 2016.
Rural Sustainable Drainage from novadada on Vimeo.
