Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Kerry McCarthy came to Nailsworth this week to tour some of the nature-based solutions helping to reduce flood risk in the district.
Stroud District council have been leading the Natural Flood Management scheme for nearly ten years now, an innovative and nationally recognised strategy to ‘slow the flow’ and reduce flood risk to homes across the Frome catchment.
Kerry McCarthy (MP for Bristol East) said: “It was great to visit the beautiful valleys of Nailsworth and Horsley, and see the work that’s being done. Nature-based solutions like this will have an increasingly important part to play in climate adaptation. They’re low cost and transformative for the environment.
“There’s lots of great work being done in Stroud on green issues, and a commendable understanding of how urgent the need is to tackle the dual emergencies, of biodiversity loss and climate change. I look forward to hearing more about them on future visits.”
Kerry McCarthy was joined by Nailsworth Cllr Steve Robinson and the Labour Parliamentary candidate Dr Simon Opher.
Cllr Robinson said: “The Labour Group at SDC have been backing this scheme since it began in 2014, and I was particularly pleased to see how a new wetland area is being created that will not only hold back flood water but also hugely increase biodiversity in our area. As Nailsworth residents are all too well aware, Nailsworth suffers badly during heavy downpours, and no one solution will stop that, but schemes like this can really help hold the water back in the upstream valleys and stop it overwhelming the drains in the town centre”.
Dr Opher said: “It was so interesting to see what is going on in the woods and fields around us. Flooding in the Five Valleys is very complex, and we are already seeing heavier downpours due to climate change, so it was really great to see such innovative nature-based solutions that not only mitigate against flood risk, but also bring so many other environmental benefits to the biodiversity around us.”
