Devon Resilience Innovation Project (DRIP)

Previously: Managing big problems in small places (rapid response ‘type’ catchments)

Devon County Council has been successful in securing funding as part of the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme and will now be one of 25 projects a cross the country to receive funding as part of the programme. The Flood Risk Management Team is now working on the development of the project with a range of partners from across Devon.

Project Summary

The project focusses on rapidly responding catchments in a predominantly rural area, whilst also making linkages between rural spaces and urban risks. This is a multi-partners’ project, building on many pre-existing initiatives across the project partnership.

The project overall seeks to identify a range of replicable low-cost resilience actions that can be delivered and funded by local authorities or/and local communities of different sizes/settings where traditional flood defences are shown not to be appropriate or cost beneficial. The project seeks to identify what level of protection can be afforded to a community using nature-based interventions, tailored flood warning systems and Property Flood Resilience measures.

The project will encourage local communities at risk to develop and deliver their own flood resilience interventions in collaboration with the project partners and identify wider benefits and alternative funding models which can then be used by other communities else where. The project will also encourage local communities to participate in local monitoring to build trust and confidence in the resilience measures.

The project will expand on locally developed methods of quantifying community resilience levels and communities with the knowledge and tools they need to help themselves including baseline information, opportunity mapping in a central shared location through the production of a local Flood Resilience Hub.

The project will develop tools and guidance linking flood resilience measures to local spatial planning policy to protect further communities at risk from heightened run offs as a result of increased climate change risks, pressures from new developments and increased agricultural productivity.

More information about the Devon project will be made available through this webpage as the project progresses. Further information about the overall National Programme is available at: Flood and coastal resilience innovation programme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pilot Project Locations

These locations are the current target locations for the DRIP pilot projects, some of the locations could still change.

Project Partners

North Devon Biosphere Reserve, Plymouth University, Exeter University, Torridge District Council, Teignbridge District Council, Torbay Council, South West Water, Plymouth City Council, National Trust, North Devon District Council, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Blackdown Hills AONB, Devon County Council, Devon Communities Together, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Devon Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency, Exmoor National Park Authority, Food Farming & Countryside Commission