Our Projects

We’re exploring all measures to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change, right across South Yorkshire. Our projects help us reduce the impacts of flooding and build our capacity to respond to flood events when they do happen.

We’ve made good progress since the flooding in 2019. But we still have much to do to better protect our communities that remain vulnerable.

Here, you’ll discover how different schemes and solutions help us protect against flooding. And you can explore our interactive map to find out about projects underway across the region.

Explore the many projects underway in South Yorkshire on our interactive map.

How to use the map:

Zoom in on your local area or area of interest.
Click on a coloured dot to find out about the project at this location – who’s leading it, what it aims to achieve, its completion date and more.
The map shows our main rivers – the Don, Rother and Dearne. Select ‘show other watercourses’ to see the distribution of all rivers and streams across the region.

Project Highlights

Source to Sea Nature-Based Solutions

Bentley Ings Pumping Station

Doncaster Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) project

Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme

Information & Tools

Grey to Green

Lower Don Valley Flood Alleviation Scheme

Lundwood (Lang Avenue) flood alleviation scheme

Engagement and education

Our local authority areas

For more information about projects reducing the risk of flooding where you live, see your local authority’s website:

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

City of Doncaster Council

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Sheffield City Council

Schemes and Solutions

Flood alleviation schemes

Designed to reduce flood risk to homes and businesses in areas at significant risk, these schemes
tend to involve several engineering projects. They draw on engagement with the public,
businesses and landowners. It can take many years for them to progress from early design to
completion.
Find out about local flood alleviation schemes:

Flood defence maintenance

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, all year round, to maintain our flood defences and drainage system. Regular inspections and, where necessary, improvements make sure they remain effective and aren’t damaged or blocked by debris.

Nature-based solutions

Working with natural processes can help us respond to both flooding and the loss of biodiversity.

The natural landscapes and rivers that make South Yorkshire vulnerable to flooding are also some of its most precious assets. Restoring and developing these natural landscapes helps to slow and store water, reducing flood risk. It allows nature to recover, providing wildlife-rich environments for people to thrive in. And it stores carbon, mitigating climate change.

Natural flood management features include:

Leaky barriers (or leaky dams)
Placing logs or cobblestones in streams and overland water flows allows water through in normal conditions. When there is high flow, they hold water and slowly release it.

Attenuation ponds
These ponds can store extra water during storms, before slowly releasing it back into watercourses and surrounding land.

Scrapes
Like attenuation ponds, scrapes are temporary holds for water as it flows over land towards watercourses.

A pond containing water in a wooded area in Sheffield.
Attenuation pond at Lady Canning’s Plantation – Credit: Environment Agency

Trees, shrubs and hedgerows
Planting helps water evaporate and soak into the ground, and slows its flow over the surface. It also provides natural habitat and absorbs carbon.

Wet woodlands
They hold water most of the time and can store extra during storms. They provide the same benefits as tree planting and attenuation ponds, as well as much needed habitat for wildlife.

Wetland and naturalised water storage areas
These features can hold extra water in times of high rainfall, while providing habitat for wildlife.

A full pond storing water.
Attenuation pond in Grassmoor County Park, Chesterfield – Credit: Environment Agency

Reconnecting and re-naturalising floodplains and old river channels
Over time, human changes to the landscape have disconnected some rivers from their natural floodplains and original channels. Restoring these connections allows storm water to flow into these areas for storage, creating habitats at the same time.

Improved land management
Small changes, such as aerating the soil and planting winter cover crops, can help the ground hold more water. These efforts slow overland flow, increase carbon absorption and encourage healthy, productive soils.

Buffer strips
Around the sides of fields and along streams and rivers, these strips help slow overland flow into watercourses. They also reduce soil erosion and provide habitat for wildlife.

Peatland restoration
Blocking drainage ditches and increasing moorland plants like sphagnum moss helps to store water, reduce erosion and lock carbon into the ground.

Building resilience

Across the country, three in five people living in areas of flood risk do not think they are at risk of flooding. Raising awareness is, therefore, an essential part of our work.

We support families, communities and businesses to understand their flood risk and to take action in many different ways.

We work with community groups and flood wardens. We share information at local events. We visit primary schools, where children learn about flood risk and resilience using Lego, in a lesson we developed with our partners at Yorkshire Water. And we spread the word about the flood warning service run by our partners at the Environment Agency – find out how you can sign up.

Find out more

Collaboration

We work in partnership with groups and organisations across South Yorkshire. This way, we make the most of our combined skills, experience, resources and perspectives. Our aspiration is for many more to join us in this collective effort.

Collaboration between organisations can be complex. We’re working on projects and tools that will support us to create more joint endeavours. They’ll help us to share information and opportunities. And they’ll allow us to invest where the impact will be greatest.