Flooding,Flooding, WWaterater andand thethe LandscapeLandscape Edited by Ian D. Rotherham Flooding, Water and the Landscape Journal of Practical Ecology and Conservation, Volume 7 No. 1 2008 Front Cover Picture - © Christine Handley Edited by Ian D. Rotherham ISSN 1354 - 0262 ISBN 978-1-904098-06-5 Published by: Wildtrack Publishing, Venture House, 105 Arundel Street, Sheffield, S1 2NT Typeset and processed by: Diane Harrison and Christine Handley Printed by: B&B Press (Parkgate) Rotherham Supported by: Biodiversity and Landscape History Research Institute, Hallam Environmental Consultants Ltd, Tourism Leisure and Environmental Change Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University. © Wildtrack Publishing and the individual authors All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Flooding, Water and the Landscape - Journal of Practical Ecology and Conservation, Volume 7 No. 1 2008 Preface Ian D. Rotherham Sheffield Hallam University With floods, water, landscape and climate what’s next? The landmark conference has given us a unique opportunity to find out. The Sheffield Hallam University conference is about issues that will affect us all for years to come. Flooding has already cost millions of pounds in 2007 alone, but it will cost billions over the next few decades. With rapid climate change and other issues, this is a critical matter for everyone. Yet many people still do not understand the problems, and often those most at risk, and even key decision-makers, have little real knowledge of causes or likely scenarios. This event makes the latest information and views of the most senior researchers in Europe and the UK open to all. This event brings together leading practitioners from across the UK and Europe, to discuss one of the most pressing environmental, social and economic issues affecting Britain today – flooding and both climate-induced and landscape-change related flood risks. The problems are increasingly severe and now agencies, politicians and other stakeholders have to make key decisions for long-term planning. This event is especially important in that it presents a diversity of experts and practitioners with a wealth of experience in different disciplines. Indeed, only by such a multi-disciplinary approach can long-term solutions be found. The meeting addresses critical issues of engineering and flood defence, but also landscape-scale responses necessary to minimise wider risk. However, the conference will has presentations on the theoretical and scientific underpinning of the problem and hence the responses. There is much for the urban specialist but also for those interested or involved in the wider landscape too. For landscape managers, woodland and tree managers, engineering and environmental consultants, farmers and landowners, developers and politicians, these are important issues that will influence and affect future portfolios of work. They will also influence professional judgement and advice. The proceedings here are the pre-published papers. However, because of the short time available to organise this important event, some papers did not make the deadline for inclusion. There will be a further volume of post-conference papers available after the conference. There are some critical issues to be considered: 1. Do we know the problems and their causes? The answer is largely yes we do, and they are a combination of climate change, landscape change and management, development on floodplains but the type and intensity of developments in the wider landscape too, and agri- farming and agri-forestry. 2. Are the events of 2007 likely to occur again? The answer is yes and they are likely to get even more extreme. 3. Are we able to predict where and when problems might arise? The answer is that we know where the key ‘pinch-points’ are in the system, but the extreme weather is extremely unpredictable. With flood and drought flip sides of the same issue, who knows where or when the next inundation will occur. 4. Are we taking action to address the problems and to make homes and workplaces, and the wider environment safer? The answer is that there is a lot of research into the issues and considerable investment in flood defence and infrastructure. But this only solves a part of the Flooding, Water and the Landscape - Journal of Practical Ecology and Conservation, Volume 7 No. 1 2008 problem – really the ‘sticking plaster approach’ of dealing with the symptoms but not the underlying causes. The conference will address these fundamental shifts in the ways that we manage our landscape and our towns. We need to be genuinely more sustainable. 5. Are there any other issues that are not yet being considered? Answer yes. Research at Sheffield Hallam University has shown that extreme floods can release dangerous pollution locked up in valley-bottom sediments from centuries of heavy industry. In some parts of the country such as South and West Yorkshire this may mean heavy metals and other pollutants released from deposits to be spread far and wide across floodlands downstream. These could be farming or housing lands and clearly raises concerns. Another unexpected impact is that in some areas the erosion caused by severe flooding is washing away archaeology. Centuries old heritage can be swept away overnight. The final, and very worrying impact again not yet addressed by the responsible agencies or local authorities, is the expected dramatic spread on invasive alien plants such as Japanese Knotweed. From extensive beds of highly invasive Knotweed along urban rivers and on contaminated post-industrial sites, huge amounts of viable plant material will have been spread across the flooded landscapes. In decades to come, the costs of clearly this up could run into millions of pounds. So far there is no strategy for assessment, monitoring or control. 6. Who does this affect? The answer is everyone. Many live or work in areas that are subject to severe flood risk and this will get worse not better. The problems affect people travelling to work or on holiday, they affect farming and food production, and they will have a huge impact on the economy. 7. What can we do? Well everyone can contribute by helping in small ways in homes and gardens across the country. However, the critical decisions will be about how we manage our towns and our countryside, and again this needs to involve the whole community in making sensible and effective decisions. As the conference will hear, there are many positive things that we can do to reduce flood risk and frequency, or at least to limit damage. Some of these can be done quickly such as targeted investment in upgraded infrastructure - flood defences and drainage. However, some of the necessary actions are long-term changes in both development and in countryside management that will take many years to have an effect. This conference is the first of a series of major stakeholder events on climate and environmental change. These are THE ISSUES OF THE NEXT FEW DECADES so we all need to be better informed, and this information is relevant to local communities, to planners and other decision- makers such as MPs and local councillors. There needs to be communication with all those involved in education from sixth form students and teachers to university students and researchers. It is especially relevant to businesses and others affected by the recent major flood incidents. All these stakeholders need to be engaged in the dialogue now and in the future. Contents Carlos Abrahams All Ebb And Flow - Droughts, Floods and Lakes in the Future Landscape 9 John Ash Flood Risk and Policy Analysis 18 Chris Baines Flooding, Water and The Landscape 26 Jeremy Barrell Urban deforestation; it's here and it's going to hurt! 30 Bill Blackledge North Cave Beck Catchment Area Project 38 Graham Coultish Farming And Flood Storage 40 J. Diaz Nieto, J. Blanksby, An Urban Catchment Scale Approach for Exploring the use of Brownfield D.N. Lerner & A.J. Saul Redevelopment for Pluvial Flood Risk Management 42 Nigel Dunnett Green Roofs and Urban Hydrology 44 Iain Edmonds Engineering and Flood Management 51 Chris Gerrard Mere We Go Again 54 Anna Hall Policy and Farming Perspectives of Flooding and Flood Risk 58 H. Heilmeier, E. Richert, The Integration of Nature Conservation and Flood Prevention Measures in a S. Bianchin, Merta & C. Mountainous Region 60 Seidler H. High, J. Cooper, O. Developing Decision Support for the use of Non-Structural Responses in Flood Grant & K. House Risk Management 71 S.N. Lane Slowing the Floods in the U.K. Pennine Uplands…A Case of Waiting for Godot? 75 David Lerner and Tom Ursula Has Three Eyes - Developing Integrated and Innovative Interventions For Wild Urban River Corridors 92 Steve Maslen Community Engagement in Large Scale Landscape Change Associated with new Approaches to Flood Risk Management 96 David Murphy Strategy and Policy Context of Flood Risk 99 T.R. Nisbet, H. Thomas & Trees and Water - a Forestry Perspective 100 S. Broadmeadow Fola Ogunyoye Floods and Land Management 103 C. Procter, L. Wilson, S. Risk Assessment Approaches for Pluvial Flooding 107 Anthony & S. Humphries N. Richardson, D. Phillips, Managing Flood Risk and Delivering New Habitat - Experience from the P. Miller & D. Huggett Environment Agency Regional Habitat Creation Programme 110 Carolyn Roberts A Gloucestershire Perspective on the 2007 Summer Flooding 119 Ian D. Rotherham Floods and Water: A Landscape-Scale Response 128 Ian D. Rotherham Landscape, Water and History 138 R.J.Smithers, I.R. Calder, Woodland Actions for Biodiversity and their role in Water Management 153 J. Harrison & T.R. Nisbet Rob Stoneman The Summer 2007 Floods - A Plea for Land Management Based Flood Risk Solutions 168 J.L.