November 2, 2021 4.18 pm This story is over 28 months old

Three Lincolnshire villages part of pilot to reduce flooding

North Kesteven villages to benefit from flood prevention measures
Barbara Rumble, project manager at the Environment Agency, at one of the sites involved in the natural flood management programme. | Photo: Environment Agency
By Local Democracy Reporter

The Environment Agency launched a pilot project in Lincolnshire to reduce flood levels in three high-risk areas in North Kesteven.

The project is part of the Environment Agency’s natural flood management programme, the report of which was published on Monday, November 1 to outline its works.

Among the programme is a pilot project run in Lincolnshire, using natural flood management in three county villages, Swaton, Threekingham and Spanby, to reduce the frequency of floods.

These three areas currently have 25 homes and 38 businesses at risk of flooding, and will be part of the main focuses of the £15 million government backed project.

It will see specialist ponds and grassed areas installed to stem the flow of water by storing it and letting it slowly seep into soil.

At these three sites, there will be five specialist attenuation ponds with the capability to hold back around 22,000 cubic metres of flood water.

As well as this, the Swaton ponds have been designed to include a permanent wildlife pond in the centre of the area.

The grassed areas will be 2 to 4 metre wide strips capable of intercepting water flowing over the land.

There will be 29 of these across the three farms, with the capacity to hold back close to 26,000 cubic metres of flood water, which is the equivalent of 10 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Barbara Rumble, Project manager at the Environment Agency said: “It’s been a pleasure to get involved in this unique project and to build a strong team consisting of the Environment Agency, suppliers, the Internal Drainage Board and farmers.

“I am pleased we are able to see progress on the ground. I am looking forward to seeing the findings from the monitoring to see how effective the project is in reducing local flooding.”