In September 2023, the Environment Agency and Defra announced a £25 million funding initiative aimed at enhancing flood resilience through a new nature-based solutions programme. This initiative is designed to improve flood and coastal resilience while promoting nature recovery. The Environment Agency oversees the scheme, which has approved thirty-eight project proposals, with the Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project managing two of these. These projects will implement a variety of nature-based flood management measures at different scales to address flood risks from multiple sources, including rivers, surface water, and the sea.
Since the project inception in 2024, we have collaborated with Lincolnshire County Council and the University of Lincoln to advance our initiatives, with Dr. Luca Mao playing a key role in the development and installation of our monitoring network for river flows and water quality, supported by their students. This scheme has enabled the funding of multiple interventions across five locations, including field bunds, swales, scrapes, over two kilometers of bank regrading, leaky barriers, and hinged trees. Additionally, it has provided support for one PhD student and one MRes student from the University of Lincoln, with project costs amounting to approximately £180,000 to date and an anticipated further £42,000 for the final year.
