Yorkshire Flood Resilience leaves a long-term legacy

Launched in 2020, the project was set up to raise awareness of property flood resilience measures and their benefits among home and business owners across Yorkshire. It was originally hoped that there would be plenty of opportunity for face-to-face engagement with Yorkshire communities, but the project team had to rethink its approach when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

The development of a website, social media channels and a host of online resources became key to ensuring that the project’s messaging reached its target audience. Among the resources created are animations explaining in simple terms what property flood resilience is, how it works and what the benefits are; real life case studies featuring home and business owners from across Yorkshire; a fun but educational game for children; downloadable information packs for home owners and businesses; and a series of online training modules. The project also provided funding towards the cost of developing the Living With Water Hub at Wilberforce College in Hull, a regional centre where people can learn more about property flood resilience and view demonstration models.

Between December 2020 and September 2021, Yorkshire Flood Resilience reached around two million people across Yorkshire with its messaging.

The project is funded until 30 September and, after that date, a team of national project evaluators will spend three months evaluating its success. This is to ensure that any useful lessons and insights can be shared with Defra, the Environment Agency, local authorities across the country and a host of other partners to help shape future work aimed at encouraging people to install property flood resilience measures.

All of the resources and information contained within the Yorkshire Flood Resilience website will continue to be available for people to refer to and download after the project ends.