GovWire

Natural flood management (NFM) uses natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding. These measures protect, restore, and mimic the natural functions of catchments, floodplains and the coast to slow and store water and dissipate wave energy.

NFM measures can include:

• soil and land management
• river and floodplain management
• woodland management
• run-off management
• coast and estuary management

In September 2023 government announced 25 million funding for improving flood resilience through a new NFM programme. The Environment Agency is leading the management of this programme.

We want people and places to make greater use of nature-based solutions to enhance flood and coast resilience and nature recovery. The NFM programme will help meet the aims of the:

• governments policy statement on flooding and coastal erosion
• National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England and the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy Roadmap to 2026
• governments Environmental Improvement Plan

The programme will build on and embed learning from the 15 million NFM Pilot Programme, managed by the Environment Agency, which supported 60 projects between 2017 and 2021.

Government has committed to double the number of projects it funds that include nature-based solutions to reduce flooding and coastal erosion risk.

Natural solutions can also provide wider benefits including:

• enhancing habitats and biodiversity
• improving water quality and availability of drinking water
• carbon capture
• boosting health and wellbeing

Government is investing in many ways to make sure we harness natural solutions to help manage flood and coastal risks.

This includes through:

• tree planting
• peat recovery
• Environmental Land Management schemes

There are also currently around 144 NFM projects in the 5.2bn flood and coastal defence programme. Many of these use NFM in combination with civil-engineered approaches to reduce flood risk.

This new 25 million NFM programme complements all of these investments. It also helps support the commitment to increase nature-based solution projects.

Programme aims

The NFM programme aims to:

• reduce local flood risk using NFM
• provide wider benefits to the environment, nature and society
• accelerate new and existing opportunities for NFM delivery and financing
• further improve evidence of NFM by filling knowledge gaps

Who can apply?

Any legal person or other legal entity can apply as the lead applicant.

Likely lead applicants include:

• flood risk management authorities (RMAs)
• farmers, land managers and landowners
• third sector organisations including environmental Non-Governmental Organisations - for example river trusts and wildlife trusts
• businesses
• community groups
• catchment partnerships

The lead applicant needs to be based in England, but any partners and benefits of the project can extend into Wales or Scotland.

The 15 million NFM Pilot Programme showed the third sector to be particularly effective at achieving NFM in partnership with landowners and others. Collaborative projects also helped to maximise multiple benefits and bring in other private and public funding sources.

We encourage partnership applications, with a lead applicant (such as a third sector organisation or RMA) coordinating delivery on the ground across multiple sites and landowners. This can help achieve more integrated solutions across a large area as well as being more efficient administratively.

We will carry out due diligence checks on applicants to provide confidence they are eligible to receive grant funding.

Minimum requirements

To receive funding a project must:

• provide one or more eligible Natural Flood Management measures
• demonstrate a flood risk benefit in England
• provide value for money
• be consistent with existing flood and coast plans - for example local flood risk management strategies, flood risk management plans and shoreline management plans
• undertake project monitoring in compliance with our NFM Programme Monitoring Requirements
• have maintenance plans in place

Eligible natural flood management measures

We are looking for projects to carry out one or more of the 14 measures listed below. These can be in either rural, urban, or sub-urban settings.

Soil and land management

These techniques can reduce peak flow by slowing and storing surface water run-off and encouraging infiltration with the soil.

They include:

• disabling field drains
• blocking grips
• installing cross drains
• soil loosening activities
• hedges and buffer strips

River and floodplain management

River restoration

This reintroduces meanders to rivers and restores physical processes.

Making a river more sinuous can:

• reduce flood peaks
• reduce water velocities
• attenuate flow

It does this by slowing and storing flood water.

Floodplain and floodplain wetland restoration

This restores the hydrological connectivity between the river and floodplain, which encourages more regular floodplain inundation and flood water storage.

Leaky barriers

These are usually formed of wood but can be living trees or rock. They are either formed naturally or are installed across watercourses and floodplains.

Offline storage areas

These are areas of floodplain which have been adapted to store and then release flood waters in a controlled manner. They do this with a containment bund, inlet, outlet, and spillway. They provide temporary flood storage which can reduce peak flow.

Woodland management

Catchment woodland

This can intercept, slow, store and filter water throughout a catchment.

This can help reduce:

• flood peaks
• flood flows (from 3 to 70%)
• flood frequency

Cross-slope woodland

This is planted across a hill slope. It intercepts the flow of water as it runs down the hill reducing rapid run-off and encouraging infiltration and storage of water in the soil.

Floodplain woodland

This can slow floodwaters and increase water depth on the floodplain.

This can help:

• reduce flood peaks (0 to 6%)
• delay peak timing (2 hours or more)
• desynchronise flood peak
• reduce peak height
• enhance sediment deposition on the floodplain

Riparian woodland

This is planted on land immediately adjoining a watercourse, they can slow flood flows and can help reduce sediment delivery to the watercourse and reduce bankside erosion. They also have high evaporation losses and can create below groundwater storage.

Run-off management

Headwater drainage management

These techniques intercept, slow and filter surface water run-off and encourage attenuation and infiltration within the soil in the upper reaches of the catchment.

They include:

• flow path management
• vegetation management
• grip and gully blocking

They usually work best as a cluster of features working as a network throughout the landscape.

Run-off pathway management

These techniques intercept, slow and filter surface water run-off. They can include blue-green sustainable drainage systems such as:

• ponds
• swales
• large grass verges along roads

They usually work best as a cluster of features working as a network.

Coast and estuary management

Saltmarsh and mudflat management

These help to reduce and dissipate wave and tidal energy in front of flood def

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