£6.2M investment for Bewdley flood defences

Some £6.2M is being invested in new Bewdley flood defences as part of a package of funding for schemes across the Severn Valley.Storm Christoph devasted homes and businesses in Bewdley in January 2021, and the investment will see a permanent flood defences put in place for the area.A further £4.5M will be invested in smaller projects within the Severn Valley to help tackle flooding in the long term, using natural flood management techniques such as floodplain reconnection, wetland creation, woody debris dams and woodland planting to ‘slow the flow’ of water upstream of Shrewsbury.Flooding Minister Rebecca Pow announced the scheme during a visit to Beales Corner at the end of July. The new scheme will replace temporary flood barriers and better protect around 31 homes and over 150 jobs from flooding once completed.? A programme of measures and interventions is underway across the upper Severn catchment to manage water and reduce flood risk to communities in the Severn Valley. It will identify a mixture of wide-scale land use change, nature-based interventions and engineered solutions, working with landowners and partners across the catchment.Funding for this scheme is being made available through the Government’s £170M economic recovery funding package, announced last year, aimed at accelerating work on shovel-ready flood defence schemes across England.The investment is in addition to the delivery of the?Government’s?record £5.2Bn programme to build around 2,000 new flood and coastal defences across England by 2027, with Defra and the Environment Agency set to announce more details on its six-year investment plan for England.