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

NFM measures can include:

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

NFM can also provide wider benefits including:

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

The NFM programme

In September 2023 the Environment Agency and Defra announced 拢25 million funding for improving flood resilience through a new NFM programme.

The Environment Agency is managing this programme.

The NFM Programme will help meet the aims of the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy (FCERM) for England.

The programme will build on and apply what we learnt from the 拢15 million NFM pilot programme, which included 60 projects between 2017 and 2021.

We want people and places to make greater use of nature-based solutions. This will help enhance flood and coast resilience and nature recovery as set out in the FCERM Strategy Roadmap to 2026.

The programme aims

The 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

Eligible NFM measures include:聽聽

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

You can find out more in the NFM prospectus.

We invited applications from a wide range of groups, including:聽

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• environmental non-governmental organisations (including wildlife trusts, rivers trusts)聽
• catchment groups聽聽
• risk management authorities (including Environment Agency)聽

There was huge interest with a wide variety of applications from across England. We independently reviewed these with input from Defra and Natural England technical experts.聽聽聽

36 projects are ready for implementation 聽

Thirty-six project business cases are complete.聽 The teams are getting ready to carry out work on the ground.

These are:

• Brampton 2 Zero CiC: Brampton NFM project鈥���
• Cheshire Wildlife Trust: Meols NFM scheme鈥���
• City of Doncaster Council: Bentley NFM opportunities鈥���
• City of Trees Trust: Crompton Moor Slow the Flow Leaky Dams鈥���
• Community Forest Trust: Whitewell Brook NFM鈥���
• Dorset AONB Partnership (hosted by Dorset Council): West Dorset聽Rivers & Coastal Streams NFM programme鈥���
• East Mercia Rivers Trust: Field Beck NFM 鈥� Holdingham, Sleaford鈥���
• Essex County Council: Hockley Woods Leaky Dams鈥���
• Future Landscapes Trust: Marsham Valley NFM partnership聽聽
• Leicester City Council: Leicester Urban NFM 鈥� Willow Brook聽catchment鈥���
• Lincolnshire County Council: Barrow Beck chalk stream restoration
• Lincolnshire County Council: Building Flood Resilience in the River聽Rase catchment鈥���
• London Borough of Hillingdon: Pinn Meadows NFM聽
• Mersey Rivers Trust: Alt catchment NFM鈥���
• National Trust: Common Farm hydrological restoration
• National Trust: Northey Island causeway saltmarsh management鈥���
• National Trust: Poynton and Micker (Norbury) catchment plan聽(Headwaters)鈥���
• National Trust: Resilient Coledale鈥���
• National Trust: Swan Brook wetlands鈥���
• Norfolk County Council: North Attleborough flood alleviation聽scheme鈥���
• Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust: Saving Worksop and Shireoaks聽through NFM
• Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Clitheroe聽community catchment聽聽
• Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Darwen聽community catchment鈥���
• Ribble Rivers Trust: Ribble Revival: Wrea聽Green community catchment鈥���
• River Waveney Trust: Diss NFM鈥���
• Royal Borough of Greenwich Council: Marsh Dykes and聽Thamesmead flood alleviation network鈥���
• RSPB: Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment (BUDS) in the Blackwater Estuary鈥���
• Severn Rivers Trust: Illey Brook NFM鈥���
• Sidbury Manor Estate: Sidbury Manor Estate and the River Sid聽catchment鈥���
• South East Rivers Trust: High Weald AONB NFM project (Alder Stream)聽聽
• South Oxfordshire District Council: The Goggs, Watlington NFM聽scheme鈥���
• Surrey County Council: Ash Ranges NFM鈥���
• The Friends of Cannizaro Park: Cannizaro Park NFM聽programme鈥���
• Westcountry Rivers Trust and Environment Agency: Climate Resilient Otter Catchment (CROC)
• Westcountry Rivers Trust: Climate Resilient Mevagissey鈥���
• Wyre River Trust: Wyre Catchment resilience programme

We are also working with 2 projects to make their business cases stronger.聽

These are:

• Environment Agency: Middle Brook NFM
• Nottinghamshire County Council: Cropwell Butler NFM

A variety of communities and habitats will benefit from these 38 projects across England.聽 They cover urban to rural, upland to lowland and inland to coastal locations.聽聽聽

These projects will carry out a mixture of NFM measures at a range of scales. They will seek to manage flood risk from a variety of sources including from rivers, surface water and the sea.聽聽

The measures include:聽

• new NFM features, such as leaky barriers, wet woodlands, ponds and wetlands 鈥� these will help to slow and store high flows, reducing the chance and impact of flooding downstream聽
• soil and land management 鈥� which will slow and store surface water runoff, while also reducing soil erosion and improving water quality聽
• new woodland areas and hedgerows 鈥� which will support wetland complexes and the creation of new habitats聽
• expansion and enhancement of saltmarsh and sand dune systems - these natural barriers will break wave action and reduce the risk of tidal flooding to local communities

Work will take place on these projects between now and 31 March 2027.聽 This will involve a range of organisations including:聽聽

• wildlife trusts聽
• rivers trusts聽聽
• local authorities working with local communities聽
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