Community action cuts flood risk

Waltham Forest Council will once again be working alongside residents to protect communities at risk of extreme weather thanks to the latest phase of its Lower Floods Campaign, which kicks off this week.  

The pioneering initiative is going door-to-door on streets in and around the Chingford Mount area, offering households a garden water butt to be installed by the Council’s contractor Service Store free-of-charge. 

This latest stage of the campaign could see up to 500 water butts installed in the local area, building flood resilience collectively. In this way, significant levels of rainwater can be held back from entering the drainage network, reducing risk of flooding in the process. 

The campaign has already installed around 1,000 water butts in neighbourhoods at risk from extreme rainfall in previous stages, slowing, storing and diverting more than 150,000 litres of rainwater heading for local drainage networks.

Previous phases have focused on the Fillebrook Catchment around Wood Street, Upper Walthamstow and Leytonstone, as well as the Dagenham Brook, Lea Bridge and parts of Leyton.  

The Council has target areas at particularly high risk of surface water flooding and the Chingford Mount area, alongside smaller areas in Leytonstone and Walthamstow, will be the latest part of the borough to benefit from the offer of free water butts as part of our ‘Our Lower Floods Campaign’. 

Cllr Clyde Loakes MBE Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Air Quality said: “Our Lower Floods Campaign is about working in partnership with dedicated residents and community groups to deliver support for households in areas at high risk of flooding. 

If you live in the Chingford Mount area please check if you are eligible and make sure you take us up on the offer of a free water butt for your front or back garden. 

This campaign has been really successful so far because it harnesses the power of dedicated residents to be involved in positive steps to take climate action and relies on the power of the local community to make a difference. 

Our residents overwhelmingly support action to reduce our climate impact and want to be part of the change. It is time for us to harness this resolve by equipping residents with the tools to make the impact they want to see. 

The threat of the climate emergency cannot be understated, but together, we can deliver the solutions towards net-zero emissions and a greener, more sustainable borough.”  

Help us spread the word about this brilliant campaign to your friends and neighbours!