Work starts this month to reconnect the River Alne with its floodplain upstream of Henley-in-Arden and Alcester, funded by Carlsberg Britvic for ten years.

Work to give the River Alne more room to flood safely starts this month, upstream of Henley-in-Arden and Alcester. The river will be reconnected with its natural floodplain, and a network of wetlands will be dug to hold water back in a storm.

The scheme is the first project in a ten-year partnership between the drinks company Carlsberg Britvic and The Rivers Trust. The company announced it on 29 September. It says the Alne work “will reduce flood risk for downstream communities including Henley-in-Arden and Alcester”.

Henley is about eight miles north-west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and Alcester about seven miles west. The Alne runs through Henley and joins the River Arrow at Alcester.

What the work involves

The announcement sets out the plan for the Alne:

  • reconnecting the river with its natural floodplain
  • creating a network of storage wetlands to “slow, store and manage water”
  • new wetland habitats and woodland

Severn Rivers Trust will carry out the work. It is The Rivers Trust’s member trust for this area.

George Clark, programme manager at Severn Rivers Trust, said the trust would work “closely with farmers and land managers” to “reconnect rivers with their floodplains, create ponds and wetlands”. He said giving water more space could “help build resilience to both flooding and drought”.

Why a drinks firm is paying for it

The money comes from the company’s factory at Rugby, about 15 miles from the projects. Carlsberg Group counts Rugby as a high water-risk site, and has promised to put back as much water as it uses there.

The company’s own figures:

  • the Rugby site uses about one million cubic metres of water a year
  • the target is to replenish all of it by 2032
  • the interim target is 400,000 cubic metres a year by 2028
  • the projects are estimated to replenish more than 328,000 cubic metres a year

The partnership will fund several projects across the Warwickshire Avon catchment, including on the River Leam. The company says the sites were chosen for their poor ecological condition, particularly for fish and invertebrates, and because they sit upstream of communities at risk of flooding.

What has not been published

The announcement leaves several things out:

  • exactly where on the Alne the wetlands will be
  • how much the company is spending, on this project or in total
  • how much the work is expected to lower flood levels in Henley or Alcester

We will add the locations if they are published.

It joins work already planned on the same rivers

This is not the only natural flood scheme upstream of Alcester. In January, Alcester Town Council’s flood panel reported that Warwickshire Wildlife Trust had won £280,000 from the district council’s Community Infrastructure Levy. That money is for natural flood management on the Arrow and the Alne upstream of the town.

The same report said:

  • Alcester had signed up its first volunteer flood watchers
  • the Environment Agency’s river camera at Oversley Bridge was not working during Storm Claudia
  • the Henley-in-Arden and Beaudesert joint parish council was looking to set up a flood working group across several parishes

What it means for you

If you live by the Alne in Henley or Alcester, this work is meant to lower the risk over time, not remove it. Wetlands and floodplain storage take time to bed in, and the company has not said how much they will lower river levels. Keep your flood warnings switched on.

To get warnings, sign up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service. It covers the Alne at Henley-in-Arden, including Birmingham Road, High Street and Beaudesert Lane, and the rivers at Alcester. You can check current warnings on Check for flooding.

If you farm or manage land along the Alne, Severn Rivers Trust says it will work with landowners on where the wetlands go.

Sources