Community flood schemes

Norton Canes community library

The FAIR Project is empowering communities across Staffordshire and the Black Country with the skills, knowledge, and resources to improve their flood resilience. This focuses on innovative and collaborative approaches to sustainability reduce community flood risks.
The first community scheme as part of the FAIR (Flood: Aware, Informed, Resilient) Project has been at the Norton Canes Community Library. 

The library is an important community hub for Norton Canes and neighbouring villages and acts as a safe space and meeting place for many community and voluntary groups. The library entrance was regularly flooded from surface water during rainfall. Larger events flooded the carpark and grounds of a neighbouring church and caused foul sewer flooding to enter the library. 

To reduce this flooding, the FAIR Project has worked with the library to implement an innovative and collaborative community scheme including the installation of:

Hydrorock natural aquifer blocks which absorb rainwater (that would otherwise cause surface water flooding), ensuring it is released at a steady rate into the ground. The blocks can be cut around existing tree roots and utilities, and this is the first scheme to install them in Staffordshire.
A rain garden with a loam soil mix, to increase infiltration, has been incorporated on top of this natural aquifer system, allowing the garden to be naturally irrigated when the ground is dry.
Improved traditional surface-fed drainage (birco channels), draining into the aquifer blocks. 

Image of Norton Canes library

Community involvement

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The FAIR Project worked with library volunteers to co-design the aesthetics and functionality of the rain garden to ensure it was practical for the community to use and maintain. The scheme was delivered by Amey and Midland Road Maintenance Ltd.

The collaborative scheme also allowed us to achieve wider community benefits:

  • Creating of an inviting front garden with seating and a new water feature
  • Improving the front walkway 
  • Installing of solar powered light bollards
  • Resurfacing of the bus stop waiting area, to improve safety and accessibility

We are now looking to install a weather station, with the data available to be viewed by the local community inside the library. 

The completed rain garden was planted by volunteers from the library during a ‘Place of Welcome’ morning, hosted every Saturday for the local community. The plants were donated from Cannock Morrisons and Rugeley Tesco.

Image of planting taking place at Norton Canes library

Video

In this video, hear from Andrew Brett as to how the scheme was implemented. In his role as Principal Flood Risk Management Team Leader, Andrew provides an overview of the innovate technical aspects of implementing the aquifer that provides flood mitigation for the library