Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme

25 local projects demonstrating how practical innovative actions can improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion in a changing climate.

Our programme of 25 projects will address current and future flood risks, from the sea, rivers, groundwater and surface water. The programme will learn from doing. We will share lessons widely. The evidence gathered through this 6 year programme will guide future approaches in flood and coastal risk management.


Video introduction to the Flood and coastal resilience innovation programme

The Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP) is part of the government's National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. The strategy’s vision is for England to be a nation ready for, and resilient to, flooding and coastal change - today, tomorrow and to the year 2100.

Our programme aims to:

  1. encourage local authorities, businesses and communities to test and demonstrate innovative practical resilience actions in their areas,
  2. improve the resilience of 25 local areas, reducing the costs of future damage and disruption from flooding and coastal erosion,
  3. improve evidence on the costs and benefits of the innovative resilience actions and demonstrate how different actions work together across geographical areas,
  4. use the evidence and learning developed to inform future approaches to, and investments in, flood and coastal erosion risk management.


Geographical location of the projects



How the 25 projects are testing innovation

The 25 local projects will demonstrate how practical innovative actions can improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion. The projects are testing 10 resilience actions building on existing evidence and previous work. These resilience actions go beyond those funded through the government’s main flood and coastal erosion grant in aid programme.

Projects have created their detailed plans and are now beginning delivery.


Innovation in this programme means the projects will:

  • gather evidence on how combinations of different actions can deliver benefits to place-based resilience
  • trial a broader range of resilience actions to improve our understanding and evidence of the costs and benefits of different actions
  • increase uptake and find new ways to achieve a resilient action. For example, using new partnerships, or different ways of working or funding projects, or overcoming barriers to achieve the outcomes.


Diagram showing 3 prongs of innovation in our programme 1) Combining actions, 2) Increasing evidence, 3) increasing uptake.


Find your perfect project!

We have grouped the projects into categories and resilience actions to help you find those you are most interested in in this project finder.

There are 5 categories:

  1. Catchment scale
  2. SuDs and groundwater
  3. Community
  4. Coastal
  5. Technology

There are 10 resilience actions and 3 policy challenges:

  1. Integrated water management solutions
  2. Nature based solutions
  3. Property flood resilience
  4. Community infrastructure resilience
  5. Monitoring and management of local assets
  6. Minimise damages and disruption to small and medium sized businesses
  7. Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly
  8. Local emergency response equipment
  9. Enhanced flood warning systems
  10. Investigate policy challenge areas
    • Balancing agricultural, flood and environmental priorities in low-lying agricultural land.
    • Meeting the need for major new developments in areas with flood risks
    • Retrofitting drainage and water management arrangements in urban areas

Click on the links in the tables below to find out more about these projects and how you can get involved.


Resilience actions




Integrated water management solutions

Pilot integrated water management solutions which increase the resilience to flooding and coastal change whilst also providing secondary benefits such as, managing water levels, improving water quality, reducing drought risks, helping nature recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change. 

BRI001 Resilient Frome

CBD003 ResilienTogether

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESX009 Blue Heart

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

YOR025 Ousewem

Nature based solutions

Implement nature based solutions which increase the resilience to flooding and coastal change whilst also providing secondary benefits such as, managing water levels, improving water quality, reducing drought risks, helping nature recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change.  

BRI001 Resilient Frome

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

WYR024 Our Future Coast

YOR025 Ousewem

Property flood resilience

The funding will support participating areas to proactively engage their communities to encourage them to fit PFR measures in homes.

BUC002 Project Groundwater

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Community infrastructure resilience

Undertake activities which improve the resilience of existing public or community owned infrastructure (e.g. local roads, community centres, libraries and sports halls) to flooding and coastal change. For example, by implementing sustainable drainage, property flood resilience measures, adapting roads to convey floodwater away from properties / infrastructure, or providing temporary or secondary defences.  

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Monitoring and management of local assets

Create new monitoring infrastructure and/or asset management systems for existing locally owned (non-Environment Agency) flood risk management assets (e.g. bridges, dams, walls, natural flood management, sustainable drainage systems).  

BRI001 Resilient Frome

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

ESX009 Blue Heart

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

Minimise damages and disruption to small and medium sized businesses

Work with groups of small and medium sized businesses to identify the types of actions which could minimise business disruption and damage (e.g. on assets, supply chains and operations), from flooding and coastal change in the project area.

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly

Test innovative ways to develop community and voluntary sector action to: (1) Better involve communities in collaborative decision making about how to manage the risk of flooding and coastal change their area; (2) Help communities become better prepared to manage their own risk, and; (3) Build community and voluntary sector capacity and skills to recover from flood events. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

STO021 Tees Tidelands

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

WYR024 Our Future Coast

Local emergency response equipment

Provide local emergency response equipment for the community to use when there is a flood, for example; flood sacks, temporary barriers, safety equipment and pumps. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

STO021 Tees Tidelands

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Enhanced flood warning systems

Develop and pilot testing for enhanced or new localised flood warning systems. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

ESX009 Blue Heart

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Policy challenge areas

Balancing agricultural, flood and environmental priorities in low-lying agricultural land.

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

YOR025 Ousewem

Meeting the need for major new developments in areas with flood risks.

BRI001 Resilient Frome

STO021 Tees Tidelands

Retrofitting drainage and water management arrangements in urban areas.

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature


Programme learning

Throughout the next six years, the projects, partners, and programme will share knowledge, learning and insights. Each project will quantify and analyse the results of their resilience actions.

Defra is evaluating projects at a strategic programme level. This includes:

  • how well the projects have met the programme’s aims,
  • cost-benefit of the resilience actions investigated by the projects, both combined and individually.

We are looking at how best to share learning as widely as possible. Our goal is to make sure this is embedded in Flood and coastal risk management. To get involved in our research or learning email innovative resilience@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link) .

Funding background

In 2021, 25 areas across England were awarded £150 million of funding by Defra to develop innovative solutions to flood and coastal resilience in their communities as part of this new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme. This was allocated from the Innovation Fund.

Our programme is running for 6 years and is managed by the Environment Agency. It fulfils a key commitment of the government’s policy statement on flood and coastal erosion and the Environment Agency’s National Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy to develop and test new approaches to tackle the threat of flooding and coastal change.

This programme is funding 25 projects to provide innovative practical actions. Working locally, each project will help communities to become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. Local authorities, together with other risk management authorities, partners and communities will develop innovative solutions to flood and coastal resilience in communities across England, in towns and cities as well as in the countryside.

25 local projects demonstrating how practical innovative actions can improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion in a changing climate.

Our programme of 25 projects will address current and future flood risks, from the sea, rivers, groundwater and surface water. The programme will learn from doing. We will share lessons widely. The evidence gathered through this 6 year programme will guide future approaches in flood and coastal risk management.


Video introduction to the Flood and coastal resilience innovation programme

The Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP) is part of the government's National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. The strategy’s vision is for England to be a nation ready for, and resilient to, flooding and coastal change - today, tomorrow and to the year 2100.

Our programme aims to:

  1. encourage local authorities, businesses and communities to test and demonstrate innovative practical resilience actions in their areas,
  2. improve the resilience of 25 local areas, reducing the costs of future damage and disruption from flooding and coastal erosion,
  3. improve evidence on the costs and benefits of the innovative resilience actions and demonstrate how different actions work together across geographical areas,
  4. use the evidence and learning developed to inform future approaches to, and investments in, flood and coastal erosion risk management.


Geographical location of the projects



How the 25 projects are testing innovation

The 25 local projects will demonstrate how practical innovative actions can improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion. The projects are testing 10 resilience actions building on existing evidence and previous work. These resilience actions go beyond those funded through the government’s main flood and coastal erosion grant in aid programme.

Projects have created their detailed plans and are now beginning delivery.


Innovation in this programme means the projects will:

  • gather evidence on how combinations of different actions can deliver benefits to place-based resilience
  • trial a broader range of resilience actions to improve our understanding and evidence of the costs and benefits of different actions
  • increase uptake and find new ways to achieve a resilient action. For example, using new partnerships, or different ways of working or funding projects, or overcoming barriers to achieve the outcomes.


Diagram showing 3 prongs of innovation in our programme 1) Combining actions, 2) Increasing evidence, 3) increasing uptake.


Find your perfect project!

We have grouped the projects into categories and resilience actions to help you find those you are most interested in in this project finder.

There are 5 categories:

  1. Catchment scale
  2. SuDs and groundwater
  3. Community
  4. Coastal
  5. Technology

There are 10 resilience actions and 3 policy challenges:

  1. Integrated water management solutions
  2. Nature based solutions
  3. Property flood resilience
  4. Community infrastructure resilience
  5. Monitoring and management of local assets
  6. Minimise damages and disruption to small and medium sized businesses
  7. Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly
  8. Local emergency response equipment
  9. Enhanced flood warning systems
  10. Investigate policy challenge areas
    • Balancing agricultural, flood and environmental priorities in low-lying agricultural land.
    • Meeting the need for major new developments in areas with flood risks
    • Retrofitting drainage and water management arrangements in urban areas

Click on the links in the tables below to find out more about these projects and how you can get involved.


Resilience actions




Integrated water management solutions

Pilot integrated water management solutions which increase the resilience to flooding and coastal change whilst also providing secondary benefits such as, managing water levels, improving water quality, reducing drought risks, helping nature recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change. 

BRI001 Resilient Frome

CBD003 ResilienTogether

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESX009 Blue Heart

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

YOR025 Ousewem

Nature based solutions

Implement nature based solutions which increase the resilience to flooding and coastal change whilst also providing secondary benefits such as, managing water levels, improving water quality, reducing drought risks, helping nature recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change.  

BRI001 Resilient Frome

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

WYR024 Our Future Coast

YOR025 Ousewem

Property flood resilience

The funding will support participating areas to proactively engage their communities to encourage them to fit PFR measures in homes.

BUC002 Project Groundwater

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Community infrastructure resilience

Undertake activities which improve the resilience of existing public or community owned infrastructure (e.g. local roads, community centres, libraries and sports halls) to flooding and coastal change. For example, by implementing sustainable drainage, property flood resilience measures, adapting roads to convey floodwater away from properties / infrastructure, or providing temporary or secondary defences.  

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

LOR013 Community Bluescapes

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Monitoring and management of local assets

Create new monitoring infrastructure and/or asset management systems for existing locally owned (non-Environment Agency) flood risk management assets (e.g. bridges, dams, walls, natural flood management, sustainable drainage systems).  

BRI001 Resilient Frome

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

ESX009 Blue Heart

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

STO021 Tees Tidelands

SUF022 Reclaim the rain

Minimise damages and disruption to small and medium sized businesses

Work with groups of small and medium sized businesses to identify the types of actions which could minimise business disruption and damage (e.g. on assets, supply chains and operations), from flooding and coastal change in the project area.

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Community and voluntary sector action to be better prepared and recover more quickly

Test innovative ways to develop community and voluntary sector action to: (1) Better involve communities in collaborative decision making about how to manage the risk of flooding and coastal change their area; (2) Help communities become better prepared to manage their own risk, and; (3) Build community and voluntary sector capacity and skills to recover from flood events. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

COR004 Making space for sand (MS4S)

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

ESF008 Resilient Coasts

GAT010 Project Groundwater Northumbria

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature

SOT018 Stronger Shores

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

STO021 Tees Tidelands

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

WYR024 Our Future Coast

Local emergency response equipment

Provide local emergency response equipment for the community to use when there is a flood, for example; flood sacks, temporary barriers, safety equipment and pumps. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

LIN011 Project Groundwater Greater Lincolnshire

ROC016 Roch Valley neighbourhood flood and climate resilience

STO021 Tees Tidelands

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Enhanced flood warning systems

Develop and pilot testing for enhanced or new localised flood warning systems. 

BUC002 Project Groundwater

CBD003 ResilienTogether

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

DEV006 Devon Resilience Innovation Programme (DRIP)

ESX009 Blue Heart

NEL014 Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby (DIG) surface water resilience

NUM015 Next generation flood resilience (NGFR)

SOU019 Catchment to Coast

STF020 A FAIR approach to community flood risk

WNO023 RAIN - Resilience And Innovation Northants

Policy challenge areas

Balancing agricultural, flood and environmental priorities in low-lying agricultural land.

CUB005 Cumbria innovative flood resilience

YOR025 Ousewem

Meeting the need for major new developments in areas with flood risks.

BRI001 Resilient Frome

STO021 Tees Tidelands

Retrofitting drainage and water management arrangements in urban areas.

DUR007 Community SuDS innovation accelerator

LOB012 Action for Silk Stream

SLO017 Smarter flood resilience - sponge catchments for people and nature


Programme learning

Throughout the next six years, the projects, partners, and programme will share knowledge, learning and insights. Each project will quantify and analyse the results of their resilience actions.

Defra is evaluating projects at a strategic programme level. This includes:

  • how well the projects have met the programme’s aims,
  • cost-benefit of the resilience actions investigated by the projects, both combined and individually.

We are looking at how best to share learning as widely as possible. Our goal is to make sure this is embedded in Flood and coastal risk management. To get involved in our research or learning email innovative resilience@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link) .

Funding background

In 2021, 25 areas across England were awarded £150 million of funding by Defra to develop innovative solutions to flood and coastal resilience in their communities as part of this new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme. This was allocated from the Innovation Fund.

Our programme is running for 6 years and is managed by the Environment Agency. It fulfils a key commitment of the government’s policy statement on flood and coastal erosion and the Environment Agency’s National Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy to develop and test new approaches to tackle the threat of flooding and coastal change.

This programme is funding 25 projects to provide innovative practical actions. Working locally, each project will help communities to become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. Local authorities, together with other risk management authorities, partners and communities will develop innovative solutions to flood and coastal resilience in communities across England, in towns and cities as well as in the countryside.

Page last updated: 13 Aug 2024, 02:24 PM