Floods in Northern England

The report examines flood resilience in the River Derwent catchment, Cumbria, using a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. It analyzes how different communities—from hill farms to post-industrial towns—mobilize human, social, financial, physical, and place-based resources. Key findings highlight the role of 'Communities of Resilience Practice' (CoRP), the importance of 'broker' individuals in linking communities to power, and the tension between structural defenses and long-term risk management. The study proposes a set of qualitative indicators to measure community resilience over time.

• Community resilience in the Derwent catchment is not uniform but varies by topographical and social context, requiring different resource sets for hill farms, rural villages, and urban towns like Keswick, Cockermouth, and Workington.
• The study identifies 'Communities of Resilience Practice' (CoRP)—collaborations between statutory agencies and hazard-exposed populations—as a highly effective model for disaster-risk reduction at the catchment scale.
• Resilience often depends on a small number of 'community champions' or brokers who possess the social capital to link geographically exposed communities to formal governance and power structures.
• There is a significant 'recovery gap' where legally defined contingency arrangements from local authorities end and the less defined services of the private sector, such as insurance and builders, begin, often causing extreme stress for homeowners.
• In urban areas like Keswick and Cockermouth, there is a strong psychological reliance on structural defenses (walls and pumps), despite literature suggesting such measures can increase overall flood risk.
• The 'responsibilization' of risk—shifting the burden of flood management from the government to individuals and communities—is evidenced by new partnership funding rules requiring community contributions for physical defense schemes.
• Social network mapping reveals that the ability to mobilize emotional, physical, and financial resources is heavily dependent on the diversity and strength of an individual's social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking).

APA

Deeming, H., Davis, B., Fordham, M., Taylor, S., & Taylor, R. (2014). Floods in Northern England. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/emBRACE-2014-Floods-Northern-England.pdf.pdf

Chicago

Deeming, Hugh, Belinda Davis, Maureen Fordham, Simon Taylor, and Richard Taylor. Floods in Northern England. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2014. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/emBRACE-2014-Floods-Northern-England.pdf.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Deeming |first1=Hugh |last2=Davis |first2=Belinda |last3=Fordham |first3=Maureen |last4=Taylor |first4=Simon |last5=Taylor |first5=Richard |title=Floods in Northern England |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=31 December 2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/emBRACE-2014-Floods-Northern-England.pdf.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deeming2014floods, author = {Deeming, Hugh and Davis, Belinda and Fordham, Maureen and Taylor, Simon and Taylor, Richard}, title = {{Floods in Northern England}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/emBRACE-2014-Floods-Northern-England.pdf.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }