Group to lobby MPs over natural flood defences

Campaigners from a flooding hotspot in West Yorkshire are set to lobby MPs about using more natural defences to prevent communities being swamped.

Slow the Flow was set up in Calderdale after much of the district was hit by devastating floods in December 2015.

Staffed by volunteers, the charity builds flood management schemes using parts of the landscape, such as trees, to stem river water and protect towns and villages.

The group is due to meet cabinet ministers and MPs in Parliament later to promote its work.

Charity trustee Katie Kimber told BBC Radio Leeds the government should devote more money to creating natural flood defences.

She said such defences could sit alongside other flood management schemes.

"We want to let [MPs] know the benefits of natural flood management," she said.

"It holds back and slows down water to reduce flooding. It improves water quality.

"It contributes amenity and wellbeing benefits and it encourages biodiversity. Water is a key habitat for our species."

The likes of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, all of which are in the Calder Valley, have been flooded repeatedly in recent years.

Ms Kimber said the impact of extreme weather events had been devastating for communities across the area.

"It ruins everything for people," she added.

"Lots of people do live with this fear and it really affects their mental health.

"It's at the forefront of their minds every time it rains or we have a storm."

In response, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency said "nature-based solutions" to flooding had "an important contribution to play" in protecting towns and cities.

They added: "The Environment Agency use natural flood management in combination with other measures such as traditional engineered flood and coastal defences to increase our flood resilience."

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