Calderdale Flood Action Plan - Eye on Calderdale

Landowner and Natural Flood Management officer walking to an area of tree planting.

What are the key areas covered in the Plan?

The Plan sets out a programme of work that will help our area to recover from the floods, improve resilience and reduce the risk of flooding. It focuses on four key areas:

Strengthening defences – projects and schemes to reduce flooding from rivers and surface water.
Natural flood management - managing the landscape to slow down the flow of water.
Resilient infrastructure – strengthening our infrastructure - such as sewer systems, electricity substations and transport routes - to ensure it can cope with future floods.
Community resilience - Working with the community to help them to prepare for and recover from flooding.

Each area is overseen by an operations groups.

To find out more take a look at our Flood Action Plan overview document.

What progress has been made since the Plan was developed?

The Calderdale Flood Action Plan is six years old and incredible progress has been made since the creation of the plan across the key themes. Major accomplishments include the completion of the Mytholmroyd flood alleviation scheme, better protecting around 400 homes and businesses; the creation of hundreds of natural flood management measures in partnership with local groups; the relocation of vulnerable infrastructure, such as electricity substations; and ongoing support for local volunteer flood wardens.

The last 12 months have seen further actions completed, including:

The launch of the draft Climate Action Plan and consultation, outlining Calderdale’s steps towards a zero-carbon future
Redevelopment of the Eye on Calderdale website, to better support residents and businesses by providing comprehensive information about flooding
The launch of additional rounds of the landowner grants scheme, supporting the installation of Natural Flood Management measures
Supporting countryside volunteers as part of the sphagnum moss project which aims to help protect and restore moorland by studying various methods of growing sphagnum moss

The ongoing work to support flood resilience proved to be vital during the heavy rain associated with Storm Franklin early in 2022. Preparations were in place before the storm hit, Council teams, partner organisations, flood wardens and local residents showed their usual Calderdale kindness and community spirit. They braved the bad weather and worked around the clock to support each other, pass on vital information and respond to issues.

Download our five years of the Calderdale Flood Action Plan key achievements infographic below. It is by no means exhaustive but highlights some of our key areas of progress.

Download here

Consultation leaflet carried in someone's hand

How was the Plan developed?

The Flood Action Plan has been put together after consultation with the community and partners including statutory organisations, private business and many community and voluntary organisations.

Most of the original actions were gathered through workshops, drop-in sessions and meetings, and these have continued to develop and be shaped by the work as it has progressed.

Ongoing community input

As we deliver and complete more of the actions in the Flood Action Plan we also want to ensure that any new proposals to improve Calderdale flood resilience are still considered.

Our four operations groups meet on a regular basis discuss any new actions/ ideas brought to the table. If you would like to make a suggestion or have an idea which you or your community think would support flood resilience in Calderdale please drop us an email at: CalderdaleFAS@environment-agency.gov.uk.