How a new film is showcasing Calderdale's natural flood management schemes

The Environment Agency and Calderdale Council have jointly funded the projects, which include a new film Slowing the Flow Together, led by the National Trust to help monitor and understand natural flood management work being carried out to help protect the Calder Valley from flooding.

The projects include using Hardcastle Crags at Hebden Bridge as a demonstration site to encourage farmers and landowners to carry out NFM techniques on their land, organising guided woodland walks and producing digital resources for schoolchildren and visitors to explain about the different techniques, installing time-lapse cameras and photography stations to monitor the work and increase the number of volunteers taking part in delivering natural flood management.

Jo Arnold, senior flood risk advisor working in Calderdale for the Environment Agency, said the film was one element of the package and it could explain and illustrate in a very visual way the benefits of natural flood management and was a way of reaching a wide audience

“The site at Hardcastle Crags is being developed by many partners working together as a fine example of natural flood management to show that it can be a cost-effective and sustainable way to reduce flood risk, whilst creating habitat for wildlife.

“We are keen to support its use in the Calder Valley alongside flood schemes based on traditional engineering,” she said.

Calderdale has suffered three major floods in the last eight years, most recently in February, and parts of the borough have flooded on occasions before that.

Natural Flood Management is one of techniques being developed to build resilience in the whole catchment from top to bottom.