The Belsize Community Flood Project aims to help integrate the community within St Denys, Southampton that has been affected by flooding during recent years. A Flood Action Group was established from several voluntary members of the community.
This group focussed on creating two deliverables:
- Engagement with residents to alleviate flood risk.
- Development and augmentation of a community flood resilience plan.
The engagement on residents to alleviated flood risk was conducted through the promotion of Property Level Protection (PLP) measures. In addition to this, the construction of flood walls and gates surrounding the affected properties was also reviewed and community resilience measures were also assessed for viability and incorporation on affected properties.
The development of a community resilience plan included the creation of a greater sense of community and the provision of a point of contact to educate the wider community on flood risk. More information on the community flood resilience plan can be found via the Belsize Flood Action Plan.
Based on the response during the February 2014 flooding event, this flood plan seems to have been very effective as neighbours felt they received more support than during the previous flood events. In addition to this, community cohesion significantly increased following the creation of the Flood Action Group and the flood resilience plan. Several members of the Flood Action Group have also become formally affiliated with the National Flood Forum.
A more detailed report on the entire Belsize Flood Resilience Project is available here.
