Time running out for Todmorden landowners to apply for vital grants

Owners of land around the Todmorden Walsden and Cornholme areas of Calderdale are invited to apply for grant funding to enable them to implement natural flood defence works on their land.

The funding scheme is part of work identified in the Calderdale flood action plan to help more farmers and land managers undertake natural flood management projects.

Calderdale Council and the Environment Agency are launching this latest round of the grant scheme with support from the SOURCE partnership and the Woodland Trust.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Resilience, Councillor Scott Patient, said: “Due to the effects of climate change we face an ever-increasing likelihood of extreme weather. Unfortunately, due to the topography of the Calderdale area, it’s impossible to completely remove the risk of flooding during these weather events, but there are ways we can reduce the impacts from heavy rain.

“Natural flood management (NFM) techniques are important to use alongside the large engineering works to prevent flood occurrences by slowing down the flow of water coming off the hillsides. We want to encourage landowners along the steep-sided valleys of the Todmorden area to apply for this grant funding to support the introduction of NFM interventions.”

Previous rounds of this grant scheme have so far funded eighteen completed natural flood management projects which feature over 25,000 cubic metres of attenuation and 12,000 new trees.

Funding could be used for a number of natural flood management interventions, including the introduction of woodland management techniques, leaky dams (blocking streams or dry gullies with natural materials to slow water down and encourage it to soak into the ground) or attenuation basins, as well as works to tackle invasive species or the planting of new trees or hedgerows.

Applicants can also request to fund an engineer’s time to design the correct intervention for the land in question, as well as payments to maintain it once completed.

The deadline for applications in this round of funding is Monday August 2, so applicants are advised to apply as soon as possible.

For further details, or to request application documents by email, contact [email protected].

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