RSA partners with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to build flood resilience

RSA Insurance has struck a new two-year partnership with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) to provide natural flood management solutions to flood-affected areas in the UK.

The new partnership will see RSA work with GWT on an extensive programme to help reduce flood risk across Cheltenham and Gloucester, which the insurer identified as two areas that have some of the most acute flood risk using 20 years of data examining river, coastal and surface water flooding.

More than 15,000 homes in Gloucester and 8,500 homes in Cheltenham are considered potentially vulnerable to flooding each year.

The partnership comes as more than five million properties in England alone are at risk of flooding, according to the Environment Agency, with RSA brand MORE THAN’s average number of claims received for weather-related incidents rising by 58% over the last three years and the average flood claim costing around £39,000.

As part of the partnership, RSA will make an initial £400,000 investment to use nature-based interventions to help limit the impact of flooding on local habitats and improve the resilience of local communities.

RSA and GWT have engaged with the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council to identify areas for intervention where the risk is likely to be most significant for people, the environment and the economy.

The partnership is part of RSA’s commitment to helping communities build resilience and adapt to climate change by being better prepared for severe weather.

The insurer chose to partner with GWT due to its experience using nature-based solutions to mitigate the risks of climate change, while delivering multiple benefits for nature and local communities.

RSA and GWT will carry out a programme designed to reduce flooding and enable the environment and local communities to be more resilient to its impacts.

This programme includes showcasing natural flood management interventions in and upstream of Gloucester and Cheltenham, along with developing nature and water highways through nature-depleted and high deprivation areas.

They will also install community sustainable urban drainage schemes to attenuate surface-water flooding and support urban wildlife.

The programme will showcase ways to address flooding triggers in Gloucester and Cheltenham at source, according to RSA.

It will involve the establishment of detention basins and attenuation ponds, wetlands, driveway de-paves, rain gardens, green verges and wild bus stops, and provide important wildlife habitat at the upper reaches of key ‘nature highways’ as well as further downstream in areas at high risk of flooding.

An extensive community engagement and education campaign will also see the partnership visit local schools and communities, providing advice on natural solutions to flood risk and habitat creation to thousands of residents and businesses.

The partnership will co-develop a toolkit with communities, which will identify new areas that could be managed for biodiversity and flood resilience. RSA and GWT will also disseminate ‘nature highway’ leaflets and undertake 10 training workshops for residents and children in 10 local schools.

Laura Spiers, head of UK and Ireland social impact and ESG at RSA, commented: “Our comprehensive two-year programme of natural flood management solutions will make a real difference to local communities in Cheltenham and Gloucester, and I’m excited to see how it might help to influence the spread of other nature-based solutions across the country.”

Roger Mortlock, chief executive officer at GWT, said: “Nature has a huge role to play in helping us tackle the impacts of climate change, including flooding. We are no strangers to the impact of flooding in Gloucestershire—that’s why we are delighted to be working with the RSA to demonstrate the role that nature can play.

“This is a project where both nature and people benefit, building more resilient places where communities can enjoy a closer relationship with nature.”

Image source: Canva

Mark Dugdale