The Environment Agency has published natural flood management (NFM) heat maps to help identify potential project opportunities for the flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) investment programme.
The heat maps can also be used to inform the siting of NFM projects supported by other funding streams. This should help stakeholders to align investment opportunities that achieve both flood resilience and wider societal benefits across communities, ecosystems and infrastructure.
The maps are based on the Environment Agency’s simplified national-scale methodology for estimating the benefits of NFM.
The approach uses assumptions tested against previous modelling studies and considers flood risk from both rivers and surface water. Opportunity areas are defined at a 1 km² grid scale. They typically highlight non-developed green spaces with potential for NFM interventions and sufficient flood risk downstream to justify investment.
The maps do not take account of:
- local features such as pumped catchments, washlands, large reservoirs, roads
- other local infrastructure
These features can influence flooding and can also affect whether NFM measures are suitable in each location. They also do not recommend specific measures or assess whether they are achievable. Local knowledge must be used to confirm that proposed measures are likely to function effectively within the specific local context.
The mapping cannot identify which watercourse or flow path is responsible for flooding. A small upstream catchment near a community at risk may therefore appear to offer high potential benefit, even if the real problem is a much larger nearby river. The EA emphasises that the outputs should always be interpreted alongside a clear understanding of the sources and pathways of flooding.
“While the maps provide a valuable guide for identifying priority locations, they do not guarantee that projects in these areas will represent good value for money.,” the Agency says.
Local NFM opportunity mapping can also be used to inform project locations and the choice of NFM measures – however, the EA points out that this is not available everywhere.
Accessing the heat maps
The heat maps are available on the Defra Data Services Platform in: PDF format, organised by regional flood and coastal committee (RFCC) and Environment Agency area geographical information system (GIS) layer.
The Agency intends to continuously improve the national NFM heat maps by screening out areas where NFM would not be effective because of local features. The EA also plans to update the maps as new evidence emerges about the best places to deliver NFM and over time, intends to explore incorporating local NFM opportunity mapping.
Click here to access the NFM heat maps online.
Click here to download the research report Natural flood management benefits estimation method FCERM Research & Development Programme
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