Case study:Lowdham NFM

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Location: 53° 0' 39.79" N, 1° 0' 21.83" W

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site
Themes	Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Land use management - agriculture, Monitoring, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Alan
Main contact surname	Graham
Main contact user ID	User:Alan Graham
Contact organisation	Trent Rivers Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://trentriverstrust.org
Partner organisations	Environment Agency, Nottinghamshire County Council
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

Project picture

Project summary

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The villages of Lambley and Lowdham are situated on the Lambley Dumble/Cocker Beck and currently have 200 homes at significant risk of flooding. Several flood events in both villages have taken place in recent years. The watercourse is extremely flashy draining surface water from the edge of Nottingham. It flows in general within a steep sided wooded valley locally called a dumble, opening up as it approaches the villages. As part of the Defra funded Natural Flood Management (NFM) Community projects, TRT have been asked to introduce Natural Flood Management (NFM) works which will complement the Environment Agency flood relief scheme for Lowdham in Nottinghamshire.

TRT have been able to determine areas suitable for NFM features in a lowland setting on both watercourses and overland pathways. The aim was to reduce peak flood flows, enhance biodiversity, improve water quality and increase community awareness and involvement. Measures included a number of attenuation bunds, leaky barriers, tree planting, de-culverting and floodplain reconnection. Work commenced in January 2018 with landowner engagement and walkovers on the Lambley Dumble and Cocker Beck. Construction commenced in November 2018 with 18m of concrete culvert being removed allowing the creation of a new section of sinuous channel.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Individual NFM features have been monitored using time lapse photography to show how they function during high flows and show how the locations of the work recover and develop. Additional monitoring is ongoing to assess the impacts of NFM measures on suspended sediment concentrations regarding the bunds installed. Two turbidity sondes (one upstream and one downstream) have been installed to achieve this and assess the cumulative impact of the catchment-wide features.

Monitoring is continuing into 2020. Initial results indicate a reduction of sediment within the watercourse downstream of the floodplain reconnection. During peak flow the interventions are slowing the flow, pushing water onto the floodplain and reducing peak levels.

Lessons learnt

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TRT felt that although the project was primarily to deliver NFM and evaluate its performance that we would be able to deliver multiply benefits to the waterbody. We have been successful in these aims and have taken a lot of lessons from the project.

• Do not under estimate the amount of time needed to engage with farmers, landowners and parish councils.
• Not everyone believes that NFM will work and some landowners will refuse to allow you to undertake the work on their land.
• TRT delivered over 50 interventions, which proved successful but the number was largely determined by opportunities that arose. For NFM to be really successful it needs to be upscale and delivered on a far broader scale.
• It is relatively easy to deliver leaky barriers, but more difficult to deliver river restoration, storage and wetland areas.

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Humber River basin Lower Trent and Erewash Subcatchment River name Cocker Beck catchment (trib of Trent) Area category 10 - 100 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 100 - 200 m Maximum altitude (m) 131131 m <br />0.131 km <br />13,100 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Arable and Horticulture Waterbody ID GB104028053290 Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present Invasive species present Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) 6km6,000 m <br />600,000 cm <br /> Project started 2018/02/01 Works started 2018/11/01 Works completed 2020/01/01 Project completed 2021/03/01 Total cost category 50 - 100 k€ Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Defra funded NFM Community projects Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Trent Rivers Trust Alan Graham Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Flood risk management Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Containment bund to prevent flooding, Tree planting, Floodplain reconnection, Deculverting Planform / Channel pattern leaky woody dams Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information