Restoring wetlands in the UK 'reduces flood risk'

The Telegraph 30 Jan 08;

Recreating wetlands and restoring peat bogs and free-flowing rivers could dramatically reduce the risk of flooding, according to Natural England.

The conservation agency said England's national parks and farm landscapes could hold the key to sustainable and cost-effective flood prevention through increasing the natural capacity of the countryside to absorb and hold excess water.

Traditional flood defences of concrete and earth embankments may no longer be an adequate or sustainable solution, Natural England said.

Ahead of giving evidence today to the Environment, Flood and Rural Affairs select committee's inquiry into last summer's floods, Natural England executive director for evidence and policy Andrew Wood said the countryside's capacity to absorb water needed to be increased.

"To do this we must start by reversing changes made to landscapes," he said.

"Restoration of peat bogs in northern uplands would slow water reaching the streams and lowland rivers, reducing the threat to towns such as Ripon, Hull and Sheffield - all of which have experienced severe flooding.

"The recreation of wetlands will increase the capacity of flood plains at times of peak risk and help to protect some of our larger towns such as Peterborough, which is downstream of the Nene Washes, an area used as overspill for the river channel."

He said that with climate change bringing an increased probability of extreme rainfall, such as the deluges seen last summer, there was a strengthened case for well-managed landscapes.

"'Flood friendly' land management also benefits biodiversity, woodland management, pollution reduction and carbon storage.

"They are not a replacement for, but a necessary complement to existing flood defences," he added.

Natural England also believes that restoring rivers by removing structures such as redundant mill weirs will reduce flooding upstream - for example on the River Wensum in Norfolk.

Elsewhere the agency cites the Lincoln Washlands scheme as an instance of washland creation for flood defence and biodiversity, while work in the Peak District and Bowland Fells has demonstrated successful peat bog and moorland restoration.

The Efra committee is hearing evidence in Lincoln today as part of its inquiry into the devastating floods which hit the West Country, Midlands and Yorkshire in June and July last year.