Flood Risk Management

Protecting our environment with enhanced flood resilience for homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. Restoring our natural environment to increase biodiversity, improve wellbeing and build resilience to climate change.

Aim

Flood Risk Management infrastructure and Natural Flood Management schemes delivered in partnership to support catchment wide measures providing enhanced flood resilience to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. Local Nature Recovery Strategy to identify where habitats could be created, restored or enhanced to boost biodiversity and achieve wider environmental benefits.

What success will look like

Integrating flood risk management and environmental resilience into all infrastructure investment to support our carbon reduction objectives, address the climate emergency, whilst enabling clean economic growth across West Yorkshire.

Reduction of flood risk to key infrastructure, businesses and homes reducing the overall economic loss to the local economy resulting from flood events.

Positive engagement with national government and other potential funders to address the capital funding gaps for priority Flood Risk Management (FRM) projects are addressed and the 23 Priority FRM schemes are delivered across West Yorkshire to meet the needs of our communities. Delivery of Natural Flood management schemes to further enhance Capital FRM projects which will also provide co-benefits strategically aligned to the Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Strong partnership working and relationships with the Environment Agency, local authority partners, Yorkshire Water, the Regional Yorkshire and Humber Flood and Coastal Committee and other key partners which delivers integrated flood risk management schemes and works together identification of new priorities/schemes in the future.

The first Local Nature Recovery Strategy will suggest where and how to create, restore or enhance habitats to help wildlife, boost biodiversity and achieve benefits including co-benefits that are strategically aligned to flood risk management and environmental resilience. Working closely with partners, it will create a practical, usable tool that supports strategic nature recovery action, decision-making and investment in nature..

Strengths

  • Strong and well-developed partnerships in place to deliver complex strategies and schemes.
  • Positive track record of delivering schemes at pace and on time.

Challenges

  • Complex capital schemes requiring a range of partner input makes delivery resource intensive.
  • Significant funding gap for priority FRM schemes and the wider 2021-26 West Yorkshire pipeline of schemes.
  • The climate emergency and increased flooding across West Yorkshire.
  • Uncertainty around funding for partners and landowners to deliver nature recovery
  • Uncertainties from declining biodiversity and risk to ecosystem services

Policies and strategies