Brunel University and Hillingdon Council collaborate on Natural Flood Management in Ruislip Woods.

In support of the new Civic Partnership between Brunel University London and Hillingdon Council(LBH), the University’s Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience (CFR2) has been working with local community groups to develop Natural Flood Management (NFM) schemes in Park Wood, part of Ruislip Woods NNR.

This was the subject of a talk given by Dr Andrew Fox, Director of Flood and Coastal Engineering Programmes at Brunel University, to the Ruislip Residents Association AGM on 20th April.

Much of the community engagement activity so far has focussed on learning lessons from a pilot NFM project, implemented by Thames 21. That work has been led by the Ruislip Woods Management Advisory Group(RWMAG). The engagement activity saw RWMAG, the university and a few other community groups collectively help LBH prepare a bid to the Environment Agency for £50k of NFM work in Ruislip Woods. If that bid is successful, leaky dams installed by Thames 21 will be refurbished, new temporary flood storage ponds made to improve local biodiversity and the university will study the dynamic between rainfall and groundwater. CFR2 has also secured a small amount of funding (£2k) from the University to support further engagement activities with local residents across Hillingdon Borough. 

Find out more about the pilot NFM project here:

River Pinn, Park Wood: Slow the Flow. Monitoring of Natural Flood Management in Park Wood. Thames 21