MPs urged to take more action against INNS

Research shows that the threat from invasive non-native species (INNS) is growing and causing a huge impact on  biodiversity, increasing the risk of flooding and costing the UK billions of pounds each year. Biosecurity measures can be adopted to prevent the introduction and spread of INNS. INNS, or invasive alien species, are those that are … Read more

April 2022 – Site Visit Brownlee Centre, reconnecting event at Weetwood Hall

After two years of meeting online, this event provided members with an opportunity to come together to reconnect and network on NFM activities after the pandemic, and to look forward and shape future activities of the group. It was split into two sessions Session 1 – Site visit to see NFM installations at the Brownlee … Read more

Positive feedback on our flood engagement sessions

We are delighted to be getting really positive feedback on our flood engagement exercises and bookings from national, regional and local teams.

Our first face-to-face exercise was held with incident management staff who work with Leeds City Council.

This is what Carl Fisher and Ian Hope took away from the day – we captured their thoughts on video

Some of the other positive comments we have receieved are:-

“The scenarios really encouraged me to remember to think about flood events from different perspectives.”

“Really enjoyed the session and how engaging it was. Definitely worth it! I thought the discussions around it were great and the facilitating was done really well.”

“I learnt a lot about the most effective communication and how challenging it can be to get right. I think there are a lot of takeaways for the incident team to put into practice that we possibly haven’t come across or thought as deeply about before. It will definitely help to start those conversations and I’d encourage anyone involved in incidents to participate.”

“I will take away the importance of tailoring engagement to the target demographic but also considering people in the minority/margins, using a consistent, clear approach.”

“The facilitators created a great, inclusive environment. The number of participants was good (not too small or large) and the realistic but fictitious scenario made it easy to relate to, while allowing you to think differently and consider a range of factors.”

The exercise is part of a project we are delivering working with partners to improve communications about flood risk using engagement tools.

Our aim is to support Risk Management Authorities to engage more effectively with their communities, increasing resilience to flood risk and the impact of climate change.

We are delivering the free sessions for groups of flood wardens, teams who work in incident management, community groups and anyone interested in communicating better during flood events.

Bookings have now been extended until the summer and can be made online , so do get in touch if you have a group that would like to take part. It’s fun, interactive and opens your eyes to new challenges.

Spring bulletin 2022

Welcome to the Spring edition of our quarterly newsletter. We are delighted to confirm that iCASP has been extended by the Natural Environment Research Council for an additional year and will now run until at least 31 January 2024. Yorkshire was recently hit by three back-to-back storms within a week. This is a stark reminder of how … Read more

Post graduates help kickstart Flood Innovation Programme with a roadmap

Mariam Zaqout Zora Van Leeuwen Two post graduate researchers from water@leeds, Mariam Zaqout and Zora Van Leeuwen, are helping to shape the future direction of an innovative project to reduce the impact of flooding and climate change in West Yorkshire with the development of an action plan. They have joined the Yorkshire Integrated Catchment Solutions … Read more

‘Unusual suspects’ urged to join flagship programme to reduce flood risk across the region

If you work in health, finance, transport, planning, water resource management or the third sector we would like you to work with us to drive forward a new innovative programme to reduce the impact of flooding and climate change across West Yorkshire. We are hosting two workshops and would like to involve partners from a … Read more

Spread the word – New flood incident engagement exercise

We’ve been working with our partners across the region to launch our exciting new flood incident engagement exercise  to help Risk Management Authorities, (RMAs) and the wider community improve how they communicate during flood events. This is part of our  Communicating Flood Risk project which aims to improve engagement, address challenges surrounding community resilience and promote … Read more

Communicating Flood Risk – Flood Engagement Exercise

iCASP has launched an exciting project to help Risk Management Authorities (RMAs), their partners and the wider community improve flood risk communication during an incident to help increase the resilience of those at risk. To facilitate this we have developed a flood engagement exercise for individuals working in flood incident response this includes both RMAs and engaged … Read more

Autumn Bulletin

Welcome to the Autumn Edition of our quarterly newsletter. Read how £160k has been secured for innovative work to reduce the risk of flooding in Yorkshire, we’ve started modelling at Backstone Beck & meet our new project support officer Emma from Calderdale. If you have any suggestions for future content or comments please email us.