Combining hydraulic modelling with partnership working: towards practical natural flood management

The UK government’s Future Flooding Inquiry called for more integrative methods to respond to flood risk management challenges. The 25-year plan for the environment, A Green Future (published by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2018), has reiterated the requirement for integrated catchment management. There is growing acceptance that natural flood management (NFM) can complement traditional urban flood defence schemes. This paper examines the outcomes of a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) between Waterco Consultants and the University of Liverpool which explores some of the challenges of implementing what appear to be relative simple NFM measures. Through a multidisciplinary partnership, the KTP project explored multiple delivery challenges. Using case study evidence from north-west England, the paper demonstrates the need for combining partnership working with more traditional hydraulic modelling approaches that can predict the potential flood risk reduction benefits of multiple NFM features, combined with the need to design structurally resilient interventions, so that appropriate permits can be approved. One of the key findings is that while NFM can contribute to flood risk alleviation, with multiple socio-environmental benefits, NFM can only be part of a more holistic approach. Primary evidence for hard and soft engineering measures, combined with use of automated attenuation management, could provide opportunities for more significant integrated flood risk benefits.