By working collaboratively with landowners in the seven priority sub-catchments, the Herefordshire Natural Flood Management (NFM) project aims to use natural processes to slow the flow of water and reduce the flood risk to downstream communities.
Environmental benefits
Outcome measure 4s (OM4s), are used to measure the environmental benefits delivered alongside flood risk reduction, particularly focusing on the creation and enhancement of habitats.
- Outcome measure 4a (OM4A): Hectares of habitats created or enhanced
- Outcome measure 4b (OM4B): Kilometres of river enhanced
The Herefordshire NFM Project aims to create/restore a minimum of 62.25 ha of priority habitats across Herefordshire by 31 March 2027, with a view to exceed this.
The ambition is to create priority habitats, which after several years of good management practices meets Natural England's Priority Habitat status and would be in a 'good' condition, as defined by the Environment Agency (EA).
To support the delivery of OM4s, the Herefordshire NFM Project has developed a series of best practice guidance documents for landowners creating or enhancing priority habitats as part of the project:
- Arable habitat best practice guidance
- Grassland habitat best practice guidance
- Pond habitat best practice guidance
- Wet woodland habitat best practice guidance
- Wetland and wet grassland habitat best practice guidance
- Woodland habitat best practice guidance
The project also monitors progress towards its OM4 targets through baseline habitat assessments conducted across relevant sites.