The recent floods on the River Monnow have devastated residents and businesses in the town of Monmouth and confirmed the pattern of recurrent flood damage in villages such as Skenfrith.
Monmouthshire County Council has been working with partner organisations on a range of measures that could limit the damage caused by the pattern of increased rainfall and we are able to announce our partnership with the Wye and Usk Foundation (WUF), Natural Resources Wales and Network Rail in a new venture to reduce flood risk on the river Monnow.
The Resilient Rivers Monnow Project aims to reduce flood risk through nature-based interventions including land use change and natural flood management infrastructure. WUF catchment advisors will be out on the ground in the New Year, engaging landowners and exploring opportunities. Partners have agreed to work together to ensure that in the next year, we have a fully developed plan and can start to intervene in controlling the flow of rainfall to the River Monnow and secure long term funding to maintain this impact. Initial conversations with upstream landowners show that they are committed to the aims of Resilient Rivers Monnow, which will involve them fully in its design and delivery.
Monmouth and villages along the Monnow have seen an increase in flood severity with a documented 13% increase in winter rainfall over the past 5 years. Villages and low-lying homes along the catchment have been severely impacted, in particular Skenfrith and Forge Road in Monmouth.
The flood defences along the Monnow have protected most of the rest of the town of Monmouth for several decades, but the intense rainfall in the recent Storm Claudia caused the river to overtop these defences, causing widespread flooding.
The Wye and Usk Foundation have pioneered an approach that includes detailed hydrological modelling by experts and field testing by Wye and Usk Foundation staff. This shows that natural flood management techniques and changes in land use can increase the amount of water stored in soils, slow flows into rivers and deliver significant flood risk reduction. Other benefits include reducing the impacts of drought, a reduction in soil washing into water courses and supporting rural upland communities through the ability to “farm for water”.
Natural Resources Wales hold responsibility for the main rivers and has indicated their interest in supporting the project. Network Rail will also participate, in the light of the damage to the Hereford to Newport rail line caused by flooding.
Cllr Catrin Maby, Monmouthshire County Council Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “The high incidence of flooding and extreme weather events across the world can leave us in no doubt as to the reality of climate change, and we must do all we can to protect residents and businesses. The natural flood management approach offers a way forward for the long term and can help us to adapt to the challenges we face as a society. We will continue to work with our residents and all our partners to take this and other ways forward.”
Wendy Ogden, The Wye and Usk Foundation, said: “WUF have been working with landowners to understand why floods are getting worse. After developing this project for the last year we now understand that fundamental systems change is required if we are to deal with more extreme rainfall and devastating and costly impacts of flooding. This is what Resilient Rivers will deliver. The Resilient Rivers Monnow Feasibility Stage will start this January and see WUF advisors out in the catchment to confirm the findings of the expert hydrological study. We will be bringing a consortium of funders together to share the costs of delivering land use change starting at the end of 2026. WUF are grateful to Rotary Monmouth for their help in making this happen.”
Catherine Fookes, Monmouthshire MP said: “Anything we can do to reduce the risk of the devastating flooding we saw during Storm Claudia is very welcome.
We need a mix of approaches to protect communities like Skenfrith and Monmouth – from natural flood management to improved defences – and the Resilient Rivers Monnow project is an important step forward. This is a project that can be implemented fairly quickly, helping reduce flooding, cut local rail disruption, improve water quality, and provide new income opportunities for local farmers who choose to take part. I look forward to seeing how this project develops.”
Ryan Barrett, Network Rail said: “Network Rail has invested £4m back in 2022 to make the railway line between Newport and Hereford more resilient to the risk of washouts, which have historically closed the line for weeks. With a changing climate the risk that events like Storm Claudia poses to our rail operations is ever increasing, we need to think differently on how we deal with flooding and working together with Natural Resources Wales and Monmouthshire Council is the step in the right direction in a joined up, collaborative approach to dealing with the risks now and into the future.”
Steve Morgan, Natural Resources Wales said: “Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is keen to work in partnership and explore this emerging opportunity in parallel to the work we are already doing to reduce the risk of property flooding in Skenfrith and the wider catchment. It is so important that we explore natural processes alongside engineered solutions to mitigate the increasing risk of flooding in Wales.”