SAFAG celebrated its third anniversary with the news that it has secured a £100,000 grant from the Environment Agency for further interventions. A compelling business plan, produced by the group, sought funds to proceed with installing Natural Flood Defences (NFD) along Knee Brook.

Knee Brook is the largest of some 36 tributaries in our 180sq km catchment area and produces 35% of the water eventually entering the River Stour. This dictates that our initial focus must be to hold back (slow the flow) and delay the rainfall entering this water course.

This clear objective has required the understanding and agreement of the many farmers/landowners affected so that interventions can be installed and we are grateful for their support.

Since its inception in 2014 SAFAG has benefited from determined and committed leadership which has given the group recognition. Our Chairman and Secretary are often asked to speak at National Flood Forums to encourage similar groups across the UK to fend off the ever-growing threat of flooding. The lessons we have learned can now be passed onto others in the catchment. We also support Warwickshire County Council and the National Flood Forum to organise more groups like SAFAG across Warwickshire.

2017 has started positively. We have completed our first NFD installation, and have approval for a number of further installations, which will be modelled by our partners at Coventry University to ensure we maximise the impact.

SAFAG has attracted new members who bring a combination of specialist skills. We have the “A TEAM “ but can always use some more help and expertise to share the workload.

Raising awareness of flood action:
Shipston Area Flood Action Group  held a public meeting on the 2nd June to showcase the work done to date to mitigate flood risk in the town. The Executive Director of the Environment Agency attended, providing an important opportunity for Shipston’s SAFAG team to raise awareness of the local flood risk and community action being taken.