Out of 79 applicants from all over the country, Harrow has secured a £6m fund to alleviate flooding issues.
The grant, for Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation, will be used to fund a scheme to reduce river and surface water flooding in the Silk Stream catchment area. (View the catchment map.)
The project will also help to tackle Climate Change and aims to build nature–based and sustainable schemes within the Borough and beyond.
The importance of work to tackle the impact of climate change has been brought into even sharper focus as word leaders are due to meet at COP26 in Glasgow later this month.
The scheme will also benefit:
Community and business engagement across the area will form a large part of this project.
Harrow Council are currently writing a strategy that will ensure engagement is meaningful and helps to shape the project.
The council have confirmed that they will use varied consultation methods throughout the project across Harrow and Barnet.
In conjunction with Barnet, Harrow Council have launched a survey to gather views on flooding issues and concerns across the area.
The council have said they will take residents’ views into account during the initial stages of this project.
This is the first consultation of this six-year project. As the proposals become more developed there will be site specific consultations throughout the project, dependent on which locations move forward to construction.
Residents can contribute to the survey online at Survey Monkey.
The project will be delivered from 2021 to 2027. An options assessment is currently taking place which will be finished by April 2022. Over the next year Harrow Council will be engaging with stakeholders and communities.
Cllr Varsha Parmar, Environment and Climate Change Portfolio Holder, said: “Over the years residents have seen increasing and serious surface water and sewer flooding issues around this area and along with partners and community groups we are thrilled to have been awarded the funds to carry this project out. Not only will this scheme take decisive action to prevent flooding, it will also help to combat climate change by adopting nature–based and sustainable solutions.
“We are very keen to hear from residents via the consultation survey and will take their views into account during the initial stages of this project.”
Source: Harrow Council
