Natural Flood Management: Policy Position Statement

Flooding can have devastating impacts and, with Met Office climate change predictions of wetter winters and more extreme summer rainfall, the risk of flooding in the UK is increasing. A range of approaches and measures are necessary to manage flood risk, including avoiding development of high-risk areas, property flood resilience, hard engineered flood defences and natural flood management (NFM).

Natural flood management measures, also known as ‘working with natural processes’, increase infiltration of water into the ground and slow and store water entering water courses, reducing the peak flows that cause flooding. Interventions include upland peat restoration and woodland creation, soil aeration, leaky barriers and dams, offline storage ponds and channel restoration.

Our new policy position statement explores the case for NFM, the potential barriers for implementation, and the steps needed to deliver widescale benefits.