A FUNDING boost of £500,000 has been given to the county for a project to reduce the risk of flooding.

The flood risk management project aims to hold back water in upstream areas by applying natural methods in order to 'slow the flow' and reduce the risk of flooding downstream.

In Worcester, the Barbourne Brook, at Shelley Close, is part of the project as it is known to suffer from flood risk and water quality issues.

In 2012, the river reached its highest level on record, 1.80m.While the normal level of the Barbourne Brook in average weather conditions is between 0.52m and 0.71m.

Worcestershire is one of 26 catchment scale projects in England to be funded £15million for natural flood management projects.

The project includes cutting riverside trees to create leaky structures in the watercourse, tree planting on steep slopes to intercept surface water, diversion of high flows into natural floodplain areas and fencing to exclude livestock from rivers and streams.

The funding, which runs up to March 2021, will also allow the benefits of different natural flood management techniques to be evaluated.

The initiative is a community focused partnership involving Worcestershire County Council, the Environment Agency, Natural England and local community and environmental organisations.

Cllr Tony Miller, cabinet member with responsibility for the environment, said: "We've been looking at more natural ways to reduce flood risk for some time but this excellent project will help us to accelerate this and do it on a much larger scale.

“Whilst the Worcestershire Natural Flood Management Project will focus on the three main catchment areas, natural flood management will be advanced at other locations too and be further embedded into our tool box for reducing flood risk across the county."

The funding has also allowed the county council to employ a project officer who will engage with communities to identify potential work areas and implement natural flood management techniques within the county.

For more information about flooding in Worcestershire visit worcestershire.gov.uk/flooding