Connecting the Culm is a flagship, long-term project in the Blackdown Hills National Landscape, working with nature and local communities to help make the River Culm and its catchment better for wildlife and people and more resilient to flood and drought, using a range of nature-based solutions.
Since 2008, flooding in the area has caused the Western Route main train line to close at least 15 times, impacting not only the immediate area but homes and businesses across Devon, Cornwall and beyond.
Extreme weather events like excess rainfall and floods are expected to increase significantly in the coming years, threatening the wellbeing of people, nature, and business throughout the UK – made particularly acute in peninsula areas which have limited access routes, such as the South West.
Looking upstream in the Culm Valley (C) James Maben
Working in partnership with the Environment Agency, National Trust, National Highways, Network Rail, and Devon County and Mid-Devon District Councils, together with farmers and landowners, this catchment-scale climate adaptation project is increasing flood resilience in the area to address the root-causes of this systemic and costly issue.
Alongside reducing flood risk to the railway line (a key ‘tipping point’ in the system), the Blackdown Hills National Landscape and its partners are delivering , nature-based solutions at scale, that provide a wide range of co-benefits across the catchment. These include improving water quality, reversing habitat degradation and species loss, and storing carbon.
The Culm Valley from above (C) James Maben
Why the Culm Matters:
We know extreme weather events like flooding and wildfires are only going to become more common as the impacts of climate change increasingly take effect. The River Culm catchment in Devon is already experiencing this change with flooding and drought becoming more common each year.
These weather events cause widespread disruption to personal and professional life in the region and beyond, costing businesses and communities millions of pounds each year and disrupting, sometimes irreparably, the lives and livelihoods of residents.
Impacts include, but are not limited to:
The strategic position of the Culm catchment just north of Exeter city makes it a flooding ‘pinch point’ risk for interruption of key transport links and critical infrastructure, making it harder for people to see loved ones, businesses to operate, and emergency services to reach those in need.
Drought stress that impacts low flows in watercourses, associated habitats and impacts sustainable farming operations.
Degraded water quality and habitat loss, reducing biodiversity and locking the area into a vicious cycle as this loss makes the catchment less resilient to future extreme weather events.
Nature-based solutions delivered at scale offer part of the long-term answer to achieving better resilience for communities and for nature. Detailed modelling has shown that reductions of up to 20% of peak flows (at key critical infrastructure assets) can be achieved by restoring natural systems. They deliver tangible solutions to systemic problems that target underlying causes rather than the symptoms.
Culm Valley (C) James Maben
What is already being done – Delivering effectively at scale:
Connecting the Culm is already a well-established and well-recognised project backed by credible partners and at least £3 million of funding. It has delivered a host of tangible successes by working together with farmers and land managers, led by an expert team based in the Blackdown Hills National Landscape. The partnership delivering the project is dedicated to a common vision for 2050: the River Culm as a celebrated lifeline connecting people with each other and nature.
Across the catchment, a detailed hydrological model is being used to target and deploy nature-based solutions at scale, on the ‘right nature-based option, right place’ principle. Measures including wetlands and tree planting are slowing water flows, improving water quality, and restoring habitats to reduce vulnerability to flooding in the catchment. To do this, the project uses nature-based solutions in a dual way:
Creating new habitats through tree planting, river reconnection, and floodplain restoration, and,
Restoring and then maintaining 3,000 hectares of existing priority habitat.
The hydrological model can demonstrate that nature-based solutions could reduce the duration of railway line inundation from flooding by 5-10 hours (per flood event), saving people and businesses millions of pounds per year in delays and damage.
The Opportunity – be part of the project:
Connecting the Culm is designed to run in five-year segments over 25 years. This means that you have an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and support a dedicated expert team to tackle the causes of a systemic problem.
