Tree planting begins to protect flood-prone areas

Russell Horsey, from Woodland Dwelling, has led two tree-planting sessions in Wootton so far.

More than an acre of woodland is to be planted across two flood-prone areas as part of an initiative to boost flood resilience.

Residents and schools in Wootton and Sudborough, Northamptonshire, have been invited to take part in three tree-planting sessions to assist natural flood management.

The sessions are hosted by Resilience and Innovation Northants (RAIN), in partnership with Woodland Dwelling, to coincide with West Northamptonshire Council's (WNC) Tree and Woods Strategy.

Russell Horsey, from Woodland Dwelling, said the project "allows people to come together".

"There's a lot of new housing going in around here, and that water's got to go somewhere so that water runs off into the drains, overflows and is overflowing into the brook," he said.

"What we are doing is putting in large standard trees and some hedging; a large mature tree can take up hundreds of litres of water a day.

"There's lots of people in the community that want to help; they want to do their bit."

One tree-planting session was held in Wooldale Road Open Space in Wootton.

The council's tree strategy aims to increase the county's canopy cover - the layer of leaves, branches, and tree stems that cover the ground – from 9% to 20%.

"We were lucky enough to win a tender about 18 months ago to work with WNC on their tree strategy and the RAIN project has brought some of the funding to be able to do that," Mr Horsey said.

'New, innovative ways'

To celebrate the launch of the strategy, two planting events have taken place in the grounds of Caroline Chisholm School and in Wooldale Road Open Space, Wootton, with support from the local community.

A final tree-planting event will take place at Brookfield Bungalow in Sudborough on 7 March at 10:00 GMT.

These are areas which have previously been badly affected by flooding.

RAIN, which is led by WNC in partnership with North Northamptonshire Council, is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as part of the £200m Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes.

Sarah Parr, from the RAIN Project, said the initiative was created because "flooding is getting worse".

"The weather's changing, and the government understood that they needed to look at new ways, innovative ways of dealing with this issue," she said.

"We're working in the Wootton catchment and the Harpers Brook catchment to try and help those who have experience flooding."