A PROJECT in Porlock Vale is one of three aimed at using nature to reduce flood risk which have won a share of £2.53 million in European grants.

Somerset County Council and partners bid for funding for the schemes, that will help the county adapt to climate change by reducing flood risk through natural flood management rather than engineering.

The resulting ‘Co-adpt’ project will bring £2.53m from the European Regional Development Fund into Somerset over the next three and a half years for the projects in Porlock Vale, on the Levels and the River Culm catchment.

The Somerset Flood Action Plan, drawn-up in the wake of the 2013/14 winter floods, included a commitment to develop long-term land management actions to reduce flood risk in the face of climate change.

“Natural approaches to reducing flood risk are often less invasive and can be more sustainable in the longer term,” said Cllr David Hall, cabinet member for economic development, planning and community infrastructure.

“Councils across Somerset and the rest of the country declared a climate emergency earlier this year and these projects complement that perfectly. Like all effective climate change initiatives, they are the result of great partnership working.”

The Porlock Vale Streams Project is led by the National Trust and will include restoring moorland in the headwaters, reconnecting rivers with their floodplain, species reintroduction, creating flood meadows, ponds and seasonal wetlands on the floodplain, and restoring natural processes to deliver benefits for people and nature.