Severn Valley Water Management Scheme

Overview

Last updated:  April 2023

1. Water management of the River Severn

2. Background to the water management scheme

3. Proposed scheme details

4. Timescales – What are we doing and when?

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Project Updates 

April 2023 Update

In February 2023 a new SVWMS Flood Action Group Forum met for the first time. This Forum is composed of Flood Action Groups (FLAGs) which have formed over recent years across the Upper Severn catchment. The meeting was a first opportunity for representatives of each group to meet, to discuss what they are doing, and discover commonalities.

The groups have a common interest in the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme as they are impacted by flooding across the River Severn’s (Upper) catchment.

Also present at the meeting was Mike Morris who will operate as the independent Chair for the Forum. Mike has significant experience of the Severn catchment, having lived in the area, and operated as the CEO of the Severn Rivers Trust up until 2021.

The intention of the Flood Action Group Forum is to provide “on the ground” input into the SVWMS as it develops; providing a critical link with communities impacted by flooding.

The SVWMS Flood Action Group Forum is due to meet again in early May 2023 to confirm ways of working, and after this they will meet again with members of the SVWMS project team.

Following that meeting, the SVWMS project team will be attending the next Shropshire Association of Local Councils (SALC) meeting. The project team will be able to update Parish Councils through SALC on the long-term strategy development for the Upper Severn catchment and how support can be provided in the meantime to build community resilience. 

1. Water management of the River Severn

The River Severn forms an integral part of life for those who live around it. Over the years it has been a haven for wildlife, an essential transport route, a great place for leisure activities and a vital source of water for people living and working in its catchment.

Those who live with the Severn, know that for all its benefits, it also comes with its challenges. There is a long history of flooding along the River Severn and those who live and work in the area know all too well that the impacts can be devastating. As well as affecting homes and businesses, impacts to transport and commuter routes in and around settlements can be significantly disrupted.

The floods that occurred in the winter of 2019/20 resulted in approximately 1600 homes across the River Severn catchment being flooded, causing significant damage and creating a lasting impact on the local economy. Similar flood events were experienced in 2021 and in 2022, and three of the five largest flood events experienced on the upper and middle Severn have occurred in the last three years.  Though existing defences along the River Severn prevented a further 14,500 homes from being flooded, many communities and urban centres still remain at risk.

In addition to the devastation caused by floods, we have also experienced periods of prolonged dry weather and even droughts in recent years, resulting in restrictions to local water use. Climate change will only increase the impact and the frequency of these extreme weather events in the future.

2. Background to the water management scheme

Previous extremes in weather, and the resulting impacts, have identified the need for investment in water management, ensuring we can conserve water in periods of prolonged dry weather, but equally allowing water to be managed effectively and passed down the catchment safely during wet periods.

In response to the winter 2019/20 flooding, funding was awarded to investigate a holistic water management scheme. We are now investigating options to unlock further funding from multiple sources, including FCERM (Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management) Grant in Aid funding (Government funding for flood risk management).

On the 27^th of July 2021 Minister Pow visited the area and talked to some of our flooded communities and partners. During the visit it was announced that Government has allocated £10m of growth funding to support the development of the Severn Valley Water Management scheme.

Alongside this, an additional £4.5m is being invested in smaller projects within the Severn Valley to help support local issues, begin building long term resilience and to enable the testing of key concepts and ideas that will be needed if future delivery of the SVWMS is to be successful.  These smaller projects will be focussed on using natural flood management techniques such as floodplain reconnection, wetland creation, woody debris dams and woodland planting to ‘slow the flow’ of water.  

This work will complement other Environment Agency projects.  These include development of a longer term climate resilience strategy for the whole of the River Severn catchment and an Adaptive Pathway pilot looking at how to better invest the funding available in the future to tackle flood risk.

3. Proposed scheme details

This scheme is intended to be a catchment wide programme of water management interventions. The development and composition of that programme is still being investigated and will require considerable engagement with partners, communities, and potential funders.

Over the past few months, The Environment Agency has undertaken a significant amount of analysis to build a clearer picture of current conditions across the Upper Severn catchment. We have started to consider ways in which resilience to future weather extremes can be enhanced, through a range of different actions within the catchment area.  To do this, our team have collected and processed over 150 datasets and built new data tools to enable us to explore future solutions. We have engaged with community and professional partners and linked in with national and international initiatives to understand ways in which others are managing water at a catchment scale like this.

The output of this work is a clearer understanding of the opportunities and of the scale of intervention that would be required to support communities at flood risk across the Severn Uplands. It considers ways in which nature-based solutions and innovative engineering could come together to provide increased resilience.  The outputs of this process will come together to form:

• A Strategic Study - setting out the “art of the possible” and the justification for further development of the required interventions; and
• A Landscape Vision - demonstrating how solutions could be embedded effectively within the catchment in such a way as to contribute a wider variety of benefits both locally and regionally.

As the project has developed, we have been engaging with communities, supported by the National Flood Forum. They have been working with us and their existing groups, whilst also supporting the development of new Flood Action Groups where required.  Our focus throughout these discussions has been to better understand the requirements of local communities; something that we will continue as the project develops.

This is further supported through the release of our latest “Crowd Reporter” tool where you can share thoughts, ideas and images: https://severn-valley.virtual-engage.com/.

The image below demonstrates the scale of water storage that will be required to provide significant flood risk reduction across the Upper Severn catchment:

As we develop our thinking, and seek views from stakeholders across the catchment, we will start to formalise the programme of measures being considered. These measures could include engineered solutions such as the construction of flood walls and embankments; natural flood risk management measures that slow the flow of water upstream such as tree planting or the creation of leaky dams; alternative farming and land management practices; operating reservoirs in a different way; and other storage options across the catchment. We are also working closely with Severn Trent Water and Water Resources West, to identify opportunities for securing future water resources within the catchment.

We are all too aware of the challenges along the whole length of the River Severn. The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme will continue to take a collaborative, partnership approach aimed at reducing flood risk to up to 3000 homes, supporting future sustainable growth and job creation, and driving efficiencies to the public purse by working with multiple organisations. Any proposed scheme will also consider opportunities to incorporate sustainable water management, deliver environmental improvements and promote health and wellbeing.

We have already started talking with partners. If you feel your organisation could be part of this discussion and you have not been approached by us yet, please do contact us to discuss your views and suggestions. If you have any further questions or comments, please contact our Public Liaison Officer through the contact details provided on the top right hand side of this page. We may not be able to respond straight away, but please rest assured all views will be considered as the project progresses.

4. Timescales – What are we doing and when?

Taking a genuinely catchment-based approach to water management is innovative and aspirational, and also the most likely way to secure the adoption of any interventions.  Previous attempts to develop localised solutions to flood risk in this catchment have been challenged on feasibility or affordability.  The approach being taken by the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme is to develop sustainable solutions that deliver multiple benefits, and which are attractive to landowners, communities, and investors alike, but these this will take time to explore.

Whilst considered the most appropriate approach to take in the face of an increasingly volatile climate, it is an approach that comes with challenges.  Technical and financial challenges of developing solutions at scale across a vast geography are matched by political and policy considerations that are neither simple nor quick to resolve.  With our wider partners, our project team are looking to address each of these challenges as pragmatically as possible in conjunction with developing the project itself.  It does mean that the release of certain information may be impacted as we work to present ideas and options that are both theoretically possible but also backed by a robust and comprehensive plan for practical delivery.

In the coming months, we will speak with individual communities; to explain the work we’ve done and an offer for people to join us to develop the next stages of the programme of water management interventions across the catchment.  We will endeavour to provide indicative timelines for our plans and to answer any questions that you may have, whilst providing regular updates through this website page; the next being scheduled for October 2022.

We expect the development of a strategy for the Upper Severn catchment to take place between 2023 and 2027. The delivery of a programme of works will depend on a number of factors. These are currently still being explored and are outlined briefly above. This timescale reflects the fact that this is a catchment wide programme of water management programmes.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We have produced a FAQ document for this scheme found here, answering most of the questions we have received to date. This is available at the bottom of this page. This document will be added to and updated as the scheme progresses, so please continue to refer to the FAQs if you have any questions.