This £200k project was developed to address flooding issues in the village of Debenham, using Natural Flood Management (NFM) methods. This village is in the headwaters of the River Deben and the place of the confluence of a number of tributaries. Although there were 10 flooding incidents in the 20th century, the level of flooding and the frequency of occurrences was not deemed sufficient to qualify for the traditional flood alleviation project, so a different approach was needed.

 

We worked with Suffolk Country Council, the Environment Agency, Water Management Alliance and Sustainable Water Solutions to develop a natural flood management project in Debenham, which involved the creation of 4 NFM measures in the village, including ponds, bunds and flood water storage areas. This leaflet, disseminated in September 2018, gives some background to the project, and seeks more landowners to complete similar works.

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You can read more about it in our news article below, and on the county council's Green Suffolk website:

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Farmers showcase NFM projects - Winter 2017

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Green Suffolk website - Here you can find all the documents related to the project of the left hand menu. 

 

The most recent update on the project can be read in the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership newsletter, which gives an update on the results being seen in Winter 2019, following the works done in previous years. Read the newsletter here. We hope to see projects like this replicated elsewhere in the East Suffolk Catchment, where relatively low cost natural interventions can provide an effective alternative to costly hard engineering options for flood management.

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