iCASP will be involved with the new ‘Yorkshire Future Flood Resilience Pathfinder’ project led by City of York Council which won Government funding last week. The project involves several iCASP partners including City of York Council and the Environment Agency and will encourage greater uptake of property flood resilience (PFR) measures across Yorkshire. It will … Read more
This week has seen the 12th anniversary of the 2007 floods which impacted across swathes of the UK and affected villages, towns and cities across Yorkshire. It is timely to look at some of the measures put in place since then to alleviate flooding in the future. Natural flood management (NFM) has had some coverage … Read more
This week, Alison Dunn who leads the Invasive Non Native Species project gave evidence at the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into Invasive Species. iCASP had previously submitted written evidence to the inquiry and Alison was invited to attend the first evidence session where the Committee began to get an understanding of the issues that will … Read more
iCASP convened a workshop with Leeds City Council and the Environment Agency on 17th April to bring together a range of stakeholders to look at flood risk management in Leeds, for the next spending period, 2021 to 27. The stakeholders, including infrastructure providers, representatives of local authorities and councils, water companies, academics and others working … Read more
A new digital publication to help peatland restoration projects make a strong case for investment has been produced by the Yorkshire Integrated Catchment Solutions Programme (iCASP).
A ‘User Guide for Valuing the Benefits of Peatland Restoration’ explains very simply how different methods can be used to evaluate benefits such as flood risk reduction, carbon storage, water quality improvements and recreational amenity.
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An iCASP workshop aims to kick start an integrated catchment approach to reducing nitrogen pollution from farming. But as most excess nitrogen comes from agricultural activities, improvements will only happen if enough farmers get on board, so a quick Have Your say questionnaire is available for farmers to influence the workshop even if they can’t come along. (Please feel free to forward this item if you know a farmer willing to share their experience)
High volumes of nitrogen in the water or in the air are harmful to human health, but most efforts to reduce them focus on a single impact or activity such as slurry spreading. An iCASP project, if designed well with input from farmers, researchers, Defra teams and regulators, could bring about a new approach with benefits for farm businesses and the environment.
An agenda and directions to the venue can be downloaded from the links below.
Nitrogen Workshop Final Agenda
Hard pressed local authorities in Yorkshire are to get some support from iCASP in dealing with the spread of watery invaders such as Giant Hogweed, a plant that causes long-term skin burning.
Last year’s costs for removing Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed from the Rivers Aire and Don was over a hundred thousand pounds. Although Yorkshire is currently largely free of Floating Pennywort, which clogs up waterways, costs of large infestations are huge. Once widespread it becomes almost impossible to eradicate this invasive species, resulting in spiralling annual costs of treatment. A new iCASP project will therefore help authorities to act now to prevent any spread.
A group of farmers are at the heart of an iCASP project which will be supporting the trial of a new national scheme for paying land managers to deliver benefits such as healthy soil or an increase in bees and other pollinators. The National Trust and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are running a ‘Payment for Outcomes’ trial with a group of tenant farmers in the Yorkshire Dales which will help to test the feasibility of Defra’s new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS).
A group of iCASP researchers is helping to make developments in Leeds more sustainable. They’ve been using their expertise to pull together the evidence for a water saving policy. Planners at Leeds City Council are looking to adopt an enhanced 110 litres a day water efficiency standard for new homes, and need reliable and robust … Read more
