In a nutshell...
Funding: £150,000
Length: 2-year segment of a 25-year project
Location: Blackdown Hills National Landscape
Aim: To use nature-based solutions to slow the flow of water through the Culm River catchment and help reduce the regular flooding that inundates people’s homes and vital infrastructure, including mainline train access to the southwest.
Opportunities: Corporate visit days, corporate volunteering
The opportunity
When the Hele crossing floods on the western railway line, access to the southwest is cut off.
Since 2008, this line has flooded and closed 13 times, impacting not only the immediate area but homes and businesses across the county and beyond.
Extreme weather events like excess rainfall and floods are expected to increase significantly in the coming years, threatening the wellbeing of people, nature, and business throughout the UK – particularly in peninsula areas which have limited access routes.
Nature-based solutions offer the long-term answer to achieving better resilience for communities and for nature. Detailed modelling has shown that reductions of up to 20% of peak flows can be achieved by restoring natural systems.
Nature-based solutions also deliver a range of other benefits like improving water quality, carbon sequestration in wetland and woodland soils, and protecting the habitats of important species.
The project
Connecting the Culm is an established and well-recognised project that has already secured credible partners, £2 million of funding, and has had some successes already working with farmers and land managers.
Its vision for 2050: that the River Culm is a celebrated lifeline connecting people with each other and nature.
Working with landowners and communities, the project uses nature-based solutions in a dual way:
- Firstly, through new tree planting, river reconnection, and floodplain restoration, and,
- Secondly, to restore and then maintain 3,000 hectares of existing priority habitat.
The vision forms the basis for an ambitious 25-year blueprint for the River Culm.
The project models have shown that these nature-based solutions interventions could reduce railway line inundation from flooding by hours, saving people and businesses millions of pounds per year in delays and damage.
This project offers the opportunity for your business to help protect critical transport infrastructure in an innovative way, engaging diverse communities and boosting the health and resilience of a major river and its wildlife.
Connecting the Culm is designed to run in 5-year segments over 25 years in total. The funding requested here would cover 2025-2027.
The quality and quantity of our water in river systems is a top priority for the UK, so your business will be helping to fund an important blueprint for the rest of the country.
Tim Youngs, Blackdown Hills National Landscape
The potential
Catchment-scale nature-based solutions projects are innovative and use cutting edge information to tackle the issues affecting the catchment at source.
This is an opportunity to support a dedicated expert team in using well-honed techniques to tackle causes not symptoms, creating a long-lasting legacy.
Key outputs
- Use nature-based solutions to boost the resilience of the river system and reconnect to floodplains.
- Increase tree cover (~20ha) which will boost biodiversity, resilience, and carbon sequestration.
- Temporary water storage through reconnecting rivers and their floodplains (~10ha).
- Restore floodplain wetlands and woodlands (~40ha) so that more water can be contained in the event of heavy rainfall and important habitat restored.
- Engage at least 4 local communities in citizen science and tours to help connect them with the area and take ownership of the interventions.
- Monitor the intervention outcomes so that we can share knowledge and learnings to drive other ambitious initiatives.
Partners
Devon County Council
Mid-Devon District Council
National Highways
Network Rail
Environment Agency
National Trust
Interested in supporting this multi-faceted project?
Chat to the team today.
