A FLOOD-hit town has benefited from a successful natural flood prevention scheme which has reduced the peak river flow by 20 per cent.

The pioneering flood management Slowing the Flow was introduced in Pickering, in Ryedale, after the town suffered four serious floods within ten years – flooding in 2007 estimated to have caused around £7m of damage.

The protection scheme saved Pickering from further disaster when a total of 50mm of rainfall fell over a 36-hour period over Christmas 2015.

The scheme combines conventional upstream flood storage with a wide range of measures designed to work with nature to hold water on the land and slow the speed at which it enters the river system in Pickering Beck and River Seven.

In addition to the construction of a flood storage reservoir, 40,000 trees were planted, local heather moorland restored and more than 300 leaky dams built in forest and moorland drains and streams in the upper catchment.

The new analysis, conducted by Slowing the Flow partnership, concludes that these measures reduced the flow of flood water between 15 and 20 per cent and prevented the flooding of a number homes and the town’s museum.

The investigation involved quantifying the volume of rain that fell during the Boxing Day event by analysing the records from local rain gauges; and determining if the amount of rainfall was sufficient to generate a flood by comparing this with other events in previous years.

Slowing the Flow partnership chairman, Jeremy Walker, said: “The analysis by our hydrologists confirms that some flooding was avoided, although the measures were not fully tested. The key finding for us is that they appear to be working as expected and reducing the peak flood flow by up to 20 per cent.”

John Curtin of the Environment Agency said: “Natural flood risk management measures when used alongside more traditional flood defences can make an effective contribution to reducing flood risk, as demonstrated in Pickering.

“They can also deliver more benefits than just reducing flood risk – such as improving water quality, preventing erosion and in some cases storing carbon.”

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “The pioneering Slow the Flow scheme uses nature in a truly innovative way to better protect the local community from the risk of flooding – this research shows planting trees and constructing woodland dams up stream, can make a real difference downstream.”

“Natural and man-made defences both have a role to play in reducing flooding, but every approach must be tailored to local geography and knowledge.”