Latest news with #SlowTheFlow
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Country diary: This wetland is dry and scratchy as a loofah – for now
As wetlands go, this one isn't. It's a hot, dry day in what has so far been a hot, dry summer. There hasn't yet been summer enough to really frazzle the landscape, and green still just about holds the balance over parched yellow. Indeed, the only water here at Brearley Fields, in the deep trough of the Calder Valley, occupies that grey area between small pond and large puddle. Elsewhere, grasshoppers chirp and reel in the scrub. Fibrous grasses, cleavers, thistles and greater plantain grow waist-high. This is a wetland only when it needs to be. The threat of flood has long hung over the towns and villages of the valley here. The harrowing Boxing Day floods of 2015 remain all too fresh in the memory, as does the dismal wail of the repurposed second world war air-raid sirens that serve as the valley's flood alert. This is why Slow The Flow, a local volunteer force, is working to find natural, sustainable ways to accommodate the flood waters of the Calder in spate. The conversion of the old Brearley playing fields into a wetland was one of those ways. If today the reserve feels as stiff and sharp and scratchy as a dried-out loofah, that's only because the Calder is low and quiet, and burbles agreeably past the exposed shingle foreshore to the south (a rusted shopping trolley watches on). Once the rains come and the Calder gets its dander up, this transient wetland will give the river room to breathe and the baked soil will quickly turn soggy, squelching, soused, drenched: wonderful words to a man stood squinting in the sunshine with scratched ankles and a red neck. On its own, of course, this little wetland would make only a marginal difference to floodwater levels, but it isn't on its own – it's just one safety valve in a network of new flood projects across the region. A garden warbler is singing. The translucent new berries of the rowan saplings planted along the fence catch the sun like glass beads. From deep in the grass, the soft butter-and-eggs peaflowers of greater bird's-foot trefoil peep out – a marsh plant, a damp lover, an intimation of what is to come. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Calderdale campaigners for natural flood defences meet MPs
Campaigners who are passionate about building natural flood defences to protect their local area are meeting MPs on Wednesday to tell them about their work. Slow the Flow is a charity in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, which was set up after the area was hit by devastating floods in December group were invited to Parliament by their MP Josh Fenton-Glynn to talk about their work in the hope they can help shape the government's flood management policy. Adrian Horton, the charity's chair, said their most successful project to date was at Hardcastle Crags in Hebden Bridge, where volunteers had built more than 1,000 leaky wooden dams to slow the flow of water into the Calder Valley. He said they had worked with the National Trust on the project since 2017. "Leaky woody dams, if you put them into tributaries and small streams, slow the flow of water into the larger rivers," he said. "They all serve to create that slowing effect of water into the valley bottom, which if you do it enough times, has an effect of reducing the flood risk... into our towns and villages. "The work that we've been doing at Hardcastle Crags has been really important to prove a point, and to prove that this kind of work can work." The group travelled to Parliament last year to lobby government on natural flood defences, but are going again now there is a Labour government. They plan to tell MPs about their "key messages" which include prioritising sustainable drainage systems for sewer overflows, stopping excess water flowing into rivers and streams, increasing funding to natural flood management schemes and developing skills and expertise in environmental issues. Mr Horton said they also wanted every local authority to follow Calderdale Council's example by appointing a natural flood management officer. Meanwhile, in Leeds work is also taking place to slow the flow of water and reduce pressure on the city's flood defences. The Aire Resilience Company (ARC) was launched last week to help deliver long-term natural flood management interventions in the Aire is a collaboration between Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Trust as a direct response to the threat of climate change and increasing flood risk. Leeds City Council said ARC's work would complement the recently-completed £200m Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, which protects the city and surrounding areas from extreme Jonathan Pryor, the council's deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport, and sustainable development, said: "By supporting nature-based solutions alongside our major flood defence schemes, we are not only strengthening flood resilience but also contributing to our wider environmental and net zero ambitions." The Environment Agency has said it is committed to reducing future flood risk to communities in Calderdale. A spokesperson said: "We have completed schemes in Mytholmroyd, Shaw Wood Road in Todmorden and most recently in Copley Village."Construction is under way in Brighouse, along with several other projects in advance stages of development such as Hebden Bridge, Wheatley in Halifax, Walsden and Back Waterloo in Todmorden."Natural flood management will play an important part in reducing flood risk in Calderdale by working in unison with traditional flood alleviation schemes." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
