Brighouse Flood Alleviation Scheme
Landscape-based flood attenuation using natural solutions in place of hard engineering.
Key Sustainability Objectives/outcomes and Approaches Used
Biodiversity Net Gain
Use of Natural Flood Management (NFM) in place of hard engineering, to alleviate flood risk whilst also delivering biodiversity gains and improved amenity provision for the local community.
- Achieves 50% net gain for habitats and 16% net gain for rivers.
- Improves fish passage by bypassing a weir and fish pass through a ford.
- Creates a mosaic of wet grassland within the flood storage area.
- Improves habitat connectivity along Clifton Beck and Hoyle House Beck.
- Balances with amenity use of park.
Lessons Learnt
The value of combining hard engineering approaches (wider scheme also involves repair/refurbishment of existing River Calder flood defences within the town of Brighouse) with NFM interventions upstream.
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