What are the Priorities for Integrated Water Innovation in our Region?

Led by Prof Dave Hodgson, Deputy Director of iCASP Participants brainstorming integrated water strategies during the iCASP workshop. Summary The group explored integrated water innovation through multiple interconnected lenses, highlighting the need to manage trade-offs, create shared policies, secure green finance and treat water as a fundamental right. There was a strong emphasis on addressing … Read more

December 2025- The Yorkshire NFM CoP – Winter Webinar

In December 2025, the Yorkshire Natural Flood Management Community of Practice (NFM CoP) came together online for its Winter Webinar, marking an important moment for the network as we look ahead to the next phase of delivery across the region. Following on from the momentum of the Monitoring Skill Share earlier in the year, the … Read more

Biosecurity course goes live – reducing the spread of Invasive Non Native Species

Pictured: Himalayan Balsam Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) are any non native animal or plants and they can cause significant damage to our environment. They affect the quality of freshwater, including water in our rivers, can clog up water systems and increase flood risk. Rather than focusing on treating INNS – prevention needs to be … Read more

Could Meanwood Valley Farm be an ideal site to capture our imagination for what’s possible with Sustainable Drainage Systems? (SuDS)

Pictured: Participants take a tour of the Meanwood Valley Farm Members of West Yorkshire Flood Innovation Programme (WYFLIP) are currently exploring using Meanwood Valley Farm as a potential case study to demonstrate the many benefits of blue green infrastructure. Board member Vanessa Allen, principal engineer at Leeds City Council and Dr Sam Ramsden, impact translation … Read more

Anyone for a slice of Blanket Bog cake?

Antony (pictured) with his blanket bog cake More than a million tonnes of carbon are stored in Marsden Moor, in West Yorkshire – and the peatlands can  hold the equivalent annual emissions released by one million cars. These were findings of a four year study by Dr Antony Blundell, Senior Researcher and Martin Gilpin, Senior … Read more

Filming peatlands in the Great North Bog

Pictured: Andrew Walker from Yorkshire Water being filmed by Dan Waters from Adarak at Peat Moss A group of peatland enthusiasts took time out from their working day to join us making a video about vital restoration work which has transformed Fleet Moss and Nethergill. We were lucky as it was a beautiful sunny day … Read more

A network of digital sensors would be an ‘absolute dream’ for emergency planners during a flood incident – Mick Devine and Amy Boyd at Wakefield Council explain why.

Pictured: Flooding incident at Barnsdale Road Around 6,600 homes in the Wakefield district are permanently at risk of flooding from sudden storms. It’s actually surface water flooding that poses a bigger threat to the area than rising river levels as parts of the district’s drainage system could easily be overwhelmed by heavy rain. This is … Read more

SCRIMP – Skills Capacity and Resilience Improvement Programme (WYFLIP)

Relevance There is a critical capacity and skills gap risk to the delivery of flood reduction and resilience benefits in the region. At the same time, there are new demands from the  Flood and Water Management Act Schedule including a requirement for green skills associated with climate resilience and readiness. Before SCRIMP, two Yorkshire-wide initiatives were looking … Read more

Tenderbog – caring for our peatlands

Pictured: – Visit to Fleet Moss, photo by Laura Harrington Laura Harrington and Feral Practice (Fiona MacDonald), the UK Artists in Residence for WaterLANDS, have been busy during their first year exploring the Great North Bog – the UK Action Site which is a network of peatlands in Northern England – and getting to know … Read more

How art and science can progress urgent peatland conversations – reflections by WaterLANDSUK engagement lead Josh Cohen

Pictured: Listening event – photo by Laura Harrington Last weekend (Saturday 17 February) Laura Harrington took part in a peat coring and ‘listening walk’ event with Durham Wildlife Trust, site lead Rebecca Clarke, sound artist Tim Shaw, Dr Antony Blundell from University of Leeds and Josh Cohen at St Cuthbert’s Moor Nature Reserve in Durham. … Read more