meeting reports

20 March Public Meeting report

CA-WN Exchange

23 Mar 2025 • 13 min read

We were lucky enough to have two speakers this month. Alan Ryan and Sarah Parr from the RAIN Northants project, part of WNC’s Flood and Water Management team, spoke to us about the work the project is doing to make our area more resilient to flooding, and about what individuals and communities can do too. A recording of the meeting is on YouTube¹.
If you're on social media please do seek out RAIN and follow them.

Apologies: Alexina Cassidy, Clare Slater, Teresa Cox

Present: Alison Barlow, Gary Campbell, Stephen Clarke, Julie Cottle, Bruce Durham, David Garlick, James Hadfield, Hillary Haynes, Rupert Knowles, Maria Lee, Mike Longman, Mick Lorkins, Harry Mellor, Orianne Neyroud, Shirley Waterhouse, Jane Wood.

Alan Ryan - Introduction
Alan is the Programme Lead for RAIN (Resilience And Innovation Northants)², and Sarah is the Project Manager. The RAIN team is building up, they are now a team of 4 and looking to extend further.
The RAIN team is employed by WNC but fully dedicated to the RAIN project, which is externally funded by Defra as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programmes (FCRIP), managed by the Environment Agency (EA).
The purpose of the programme is to trial new ways of responding to flood risk and flood management. There are misconceptions around flood management, for example about dredging. Dredging is now known not to be a good thing, but many people think it is not being done to save money. Improved understanding of flood management tells us that ‘slowing the flow’ is better.
Building walls and barriers can be effective in some situations. Generally this sort of quick win has been done already where appropriate. It isn’t the right solution everywhere but where capital schemes to build new infrastructure stack up this can still be done.
The project team have to be willing to take risks, and be open to feedback from residents and other projects. They don’t have all the answers, they have adapted as the project has developed and are still looking at what more they can do.

RAIN project - background
RAIN is working to address flood resilience across two problematic catchments – Harpers Brook in North Northants and Wootton Brook in West Northants. Wootton Brook extends SE of Northampton through a number of villages and rural areas. Surface water is the issue here, rather than watercourses bursting their banks. This because we are getting heavier rainfall. There are no easy wins or quick fixes for this.
In the past there have been numerous flood reports in these catchments for which it has not been possible to identify a cause. Reports have concluded simply that too much rainfall in a short time overwhelmed the network.
A recent EA report said that the 18 months to February 2024 were the wettest on record³. Surface water risk modelling has recently been updated in the latest National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA)⁴. This shows a huge increase in properties at risk of surface water flooding; the change is based on better data and understanding rather than an increase in the actual level of risk. It includes future flood risk, going up from 4.6m to 6.1m homes at risk of surface water flooding. With climate change, extending to 2050 means a further 40% increase. This new data and modelling helps to build the business case that climate change is real and having a genuine impact locally as well as nationally.
Communicating climate change is a real challenge. Population surveys in Northamptonshire show that 80% of people think climate change is real and severe but only 15% think it will affect them. They also don’t necessarily think they can do anything about it.

RAIN project in practice
The team work with landowners, including farmers and parish councils, on natural flood management (NFM).
There are lots of things that can be done to implement NFM including offline storage, wetlands, bunds, swales, leaky dams, and rewiggling of rivers. These measures are all about slowing the flow, keeping the water on flood fields rather than flooding properties, and reducing peaks so that everyone downstream benefits.
They also work at community level primarily through parish councils and local community groups to build resilience through education, helping people to understand their flood risk. There is extensive modelling of catchments so people can put in their own postcode to see where the flooding will be. It’s essential to focus on the effect on individuals as that is what hits home for most people.
Something parish councils can do is build community flood stores. Education is a big part of community preparedness and resilience. There’s no need to spend a lot of money, it’s just about getting ready.
Community emergency plans and personal emergency plans are really important. A personal emergency plan could include:

Having a checklist so when the flooding starts you’ve already thought about what you are going to do.
Deciding what items you want to save. For example, family photographs and mementos that insurance companies can’t replace – these can be stored somewhere higher up or in a waterproof box.
Sign up to flood alerts
Move your car to higher ground.

The Be Flood Ready website for Northamptonshire⁶ has a lot of good advice and information. It has been put together with support from ‘Flood Mary’, a national campaigner for flood victims.
This includes information about property flood resilience. Some properties are going to get flooded when certain events happen because of their location so householders need to prepare for that. This could include measures to keep the water out such as flood barriers and flood doors.
We also need to think about recoverability, meaning reducing the damage caused if water does get in. Have a puddle pump to pump the water back out as soon as possible, and aim to have flood resilience built in to the design of kitchens etc. Rather than carpets go for vinyl or lino which is more flood resilient.
If you do get flooded then the principle is to ‘build back better’. This should also be considered when making home improvements. Build back better⁷ is supported by Flood Re, the government scheme to help make insurance affordable for people whose property is at high flood risk. This offers a £10k grant to help people build back better.

Q & A
Most of the buildings in the Wootton Brook catchment area are fairly new (constructed in the last 30 years) – should the flood risks have been thought about before they were built?
That’s a very big topic and a real challenge. You can’t enforce standards beyond legal requirements, and all developers have to follow a set of policies and guidelines. If developers can provide specialist reports to show they are not having an effect worse than greenfield runoff, councils can’t prevent building. It’s a very sensitive area but WNC is looking to see what more they can do. It may be that new buildings can make matters worse but if everyone is following the right process in terms of planning it’s hard to make a case that new developments are an issue.
Flood Performance Certificates (similar to EPCs – Energy Performance Certificates) are being developed to provide a flood score, so that if certain measures are implemented it will help to reduce insurance costs. If new developments are planned, there could be a requirement for minimum flood scoring. Northamptonshire is one of 4 counties trialling this nationwide.

On the topic of dredging - is it still true that dredging is inappropriate for places like the Somerset Levels and the Fens as they are only dry due to dredging?
There are always exceptions. Essentially taking away the vegetation from watercourses leads to the banks being eroded and the water going downstream to someone else. Pushing the water through one area more quickly just moves the problem on to someone else.

Do the regulations and checks and balances in place now take account of what the future risks might be, or are they based on here and now?
Primarily based on here and now at the moment. But Anglian Water are looking at their future funding schemes to incorporate modelling and climate change prediction as well. The updated EA surface water modelling includes climate change uplift. Historically we have always worked from data 10-15 years old, we are now moving to a point where we are using up to date information – the next step is to incorporate future modelling. Things are moving in the right direction.

Flood alerts – are they as good as they should be? I live in Bugbrooke which was affected by flooding last November and people have reported not receiving alerts until water was already in their properties.
Flood alerts are being looked at. There is also a relevant point about flood reporting. There was no history of flood reports from Bugbrooke. People tend not to report floods if it hasn’t caused major damage, for various reasons. It’s important for people to report flooding through the proper channels to provide correct data which can help authorities build a case for that area. Reporting to local councillors or putting in a complaint may get a response but doesn’t contribute to formally recorded data⁸.
It’s hard to get alerts just right and avoid either false alerts, which are then ignored, or warning people too late. This happens everywhere, not just in Northamptonshire. There are projects trialling more specific flood alert systems, for example where alerts based on more accurate data and telemetry are issued through WhatsApp. This sits with the EA on a national level but they are aware it isn’t perfect.

Sarah Parr - Introduction
Sarah leads on the nature-based element of the RAIN project. They started by talking to bigger landowners - farmers and large estates, areas where changes would have the biggest impact. The area has been hydraulically modelled to help identify places where a wetland or tree planting would be beneficial for flood management. There is a farmer on the RAIN team which is a real bonus in communicating with the farming community. The project has got a good number of farmers on board.
NFM takes a long time to come to fruition. The project has been running for 2 years+ but a wetland talked about at the start is only being implemented this summer. The team are now approaching smallholders and others with large plots of land in the right areas to make a difference in their catchment. This group has been very receptive to the idea of making improvements to their land especially if it will help their community.
Also trying to get people in their own gardens to be more aware, and to have ‘rain gardens’. RAIN are giving out planting packs for rain gardens to people in the catchment. There are signs for people to put up to highlight their rain garden, each one will be numbered. There are 4 already and lots of other people interested, including a church in Wootton.
Later this year there are plans to launch a ‘front garden forest’ – giving people a small tree to plant in their garden. The idea is to hold a planting day in a neighbourhood and encourage a street party atmosphere.
It’s great that the RAIN project is taking a multi-faceted approach. Hoping that when people see the bigger projects happening it will encourage them to make changes in their own gardens. RAIN has done more tree planting than any of the other FCRIPs. Tree planting doesn’t always show on modelling but does have a big effect on flood risk. Planting trees is the only intervention we can do that we can guarantee will be there in 50-100 years. There have been quite a few tree-planting events recently.
RAIN has just started working with schools. The Nene Rivers Trust⁹ have a simulator that shows what natural flood management does. This is installed in a van so it creates a sort of outdoor classroom which is making engagement with schools very easy. The simulator is available to be taken to events as well.

Q&A
Julie Cottle from Yelvertoft Parish Council – the village has had flood issues for a very long time. They are now coming to the end of a NFM project they have carried out themselves. A large solar farm has recently been built on the outskirts of the village, right on one of the main watercourses. The PC and community worked with the developer, who built swales and water storage areas within their project. This was completed about a year ago, since when Yelvertoft has not been flooded – in the past this used to happen very regularly.
The PC and the village environmental group also built their own water stores and flood barriers on land owned by the PC.
Unfortunately although the flood measures seem to be working and no flooding has happened, the village still gets a lot of flood alerts and warnings. This is very distressing for people whose homes have been flooded in the past. The PC has asked the council and EA if the flood map can be remodelled with no success.
Alan can support the village to promote what has been done and communicate to the council more effectively, and also help to work with the EA locally and nationally.
Flood alerts are tricky but if there is data showing reduced risk the threshold on the modelling needs to be reduced to avoid excessive alerts and people suffering anxiety unnecessarily. It’s only relatively recently that the EA has been concerned about surface water; rather than remodelling ask if they can recalibrate the level of alerts.
The RAIN project is working on a tool to see how they can implement NFM countywide, trialling surface water monitoring equipment on the two catchments as a case study.
RAIN funding is currently restricted to the two catchments, but they want to leave a wider legacy. There are private businesses interested in funding environmental projects, both to reduce their own flood risk, but also to improve their environmental credentials. A central portal is being built for people to contribute towards NFM measures. The team are keen to work with councils and communities across the county to help find sources of funding for NFM measures.
The work done in Leicestershire by the Harborough Woodland Community Volunteers¹⁰(HWCV) is exactly what’s needed - can something similar be set up in West Northamptonshire?

Bruce Durham (from HWCV): Most flooding in Harborough comes from flash flooding – it’s a clay catchment with no soakaways. They are working with a wide network to address the issues. Due to long term lack of funding, all the agencies and local flood authorities are extremely short of capacity. HWCV are learning from people across the country e.g. Calderdale about how they have solved their problems, and finding out how the community can take action in partnership with the flood authorities. It’s all about working together and creating opportunities for positive change. The only large NFM scheme on the upper Welling catchment has been instigated by HWCV. There’s a need to bring together the work that has been done in places like Yelvertoft to share knowledge so other communities can learn.
2300 properties in Harborough are at risk of flooding, there is no time to wait. The town has 20 flood wardens now where they had none before. It has always flooded but now they are managing the flood risk – flood wardens check swales, flood systems and flood basins, assets that belong to other organisations but which lack the resources to carry out these checks. They’ve identified serious problems including trash screens that block within 15 minutes to 2 hours, people locally now check these. This works to prevent flooding.
Another issue is that debris collects on road drains – they are asking volunteer litter pickers to clear it away while they are removing litter. Simply pushing moss and leaves down into the drain makes a big difference.
HWCV have instigated 16 NFM projects – it can take months or even years to get someone out for a survey to get them off the ground. The people working for responsible authorities are not at fault, they are excellent but are spread too thinly.

Citizen science such as the work Bruce’s group undertakes is invaluable, for a local authority it can be frustrating to be seen as the root of all problems. Unblocking drains is an example where communication is important – people don’t always see drains being cleared, so think it hasn’t happened. Highways have data on when all drains are cleared and are now creating a dashboard so this information is available to the public. Empowering communities is really important.
Everything that RAIN is doing they are looking to leave a legacy not just for the county but nationally. This includes the tool they are developing to give people a way to get NFM projects going.

BD: In the north of England there is a flood hub network - this needs to be extended to our area, but is currently only funded in the north. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. In Stroud 800 NFM schemes have been rolled out in 6 years. This is possible if you get on and do it. Community-driven work like that done in Yelvertoft is brilliant.
There are articles about HWCV¹¹ and RAIN¹² on the Carbon Copy website.

Harlestone has a brook through it and several properties were badly flooded last year. There is some expertise in the village so an NFM plan has already been drawn up. The question is whether a flood meadow is better as just grass, or is it better to add some trees?
Because so many flood meadows have been lost, the process that seems to work is looking at what was there before and restoring that – undoing the damage that has been done. One or two trees to increase diversity cannot be a bad thing but maintenance is required as you don’t want a woodland or scrub.
What takes up water better?
Willows take up a lot of water but may damage other assets. Trees do soak up a lot of water and can help stop banks subsiding. To a degree all flood meadows are unique.

I’m trying to do something with a churchyard so would like to take a look at the churchyard rain garden Sarah mentioned.
It hasn’t happened yet but the details will be on their website when it does. Churchyards are great for diversity of flora. The Church of England are the largest landowner in the country so it’s important to work with them.

Conclusion
Big developments are important but every single property is accountable for its influence on flood management. We are all contributing to the increase in hardstanding and built infrastructure. Individuals making a small contribution can make a big difference when combined – a water butt can take 50 litres of water and a rain garden could absorb another 100 litres, if this is repeated 100 or 1000 times the impact is huge. Citizen science impact really is important.

DONM - Thursday 17 April 7:45pm. This will feature a climate adaptation risk assessment¹³.