The Crediton Flood Resilience Group came together during 2015 to look at flooding issues affecting the area, and how we might tackle these in a changing world.

Reviewing the evidence on climate change, we concluded that it would be wise to plan for the possibility of increasing flooding issues associated with severe weather. We also concluded that as public sector spending continues to be restricted, local communities need to become more proactive and self-reliant in managing these issues.

Our first priority is to identify what we might do to lessen the number of future events and to reduce their impact, including the development of advice on:-

• How to identify and reduce flooding risks in particular locations
• How to respond to specific incidents (crisis management)
• How to follow through in the aftermath of specific incidents

We have affiliated to Sustainable Crediton to give us a better platform with more visibility in the local community. This will help in a number of ways, including:-

• Making more people aware of what we are doing, and learning more about local issues from them
• An improved status / credibility in working with statutory authorities (local councils, utilities etc)
• Crossovers and synergies with other Sustainable Crediton work-strands

Public concern about flooding issues has significantly increased following dramatic storms in recent years. Given the probability of more severe weather incidents in the decades to come, our aim is to make Crediton less vulnerable and more resilient.

We will be saying more about the group in future articles here, but in the meantime we would be pleased to hear from anyone who has an interest in this work.