Environment Agency peer learning day 10 Jan 2014

There's more to us than flooding!

These are the materials from the Peer Learning Day on climate change hosted by the Environment Agency on 10th January 2014 for local authorities in the East Midlands. This was one of a number of peer learning events for local authorities designed to showcase good practice and enable councils to learn first hand from other practitioners. The Environment Agency has a wide ranging role in both the adaptation and mitigation of climate change which often has links with local government. This event explored some of those areas of mutual interest.

These included the challenge of reducing methane emissions from closed landfills (which are often in local authority ownership), the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (regulated by the EA and which includes most larger councils), spatial planning (the EA is a statutory consultee in the LA planning process) and Climate Ready (the adaptation service provided by the EA for which local government is a key audience).

Site visit to the rain gardens project in Nottingham

The event also included site visits to an innovative rain gardens project in Nottingham (pictured above), designed to reduce run off from roads and improve water quality in the Daybrook and also a section of the River Trent left bank flood alleviation scheme, the largest such inland project built by the EA in the country.

View more photos of the rain gardens site visit on this Flickr Gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjQJQecd

There are excellent case studies on these two projects at:

http://www.susdrain.org/case-studies/case_studies/nottingham_green_streets_retrofit_rain_garden_project.html

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/MIDS_NottinghamTrentFloodScheme.pdf