Adaptation and Resilience Strategy

Much of the rain falling in the city like in many cities around the world lands on hard impervious surfaces. Often the rate of flow exceeds the levels that the local drainage network are able to cope with resulting in an increased rate of flow and an increased risk of localised surface water flooding.

The development of Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SUD’s) promotes the use of natural features and localised vegetation with porous surfaces. The use of natural vegetation slows the rates of flow reducing the risk of flooding often providing a natural filtration system that helps to remove pollutants from the water.

With the projected growth in the city’s population and the likely increasing demand for water, the city will need to promote water conservation methods in new developments. We will be encouraging developers and investors to adopt best practices and to innovate in addressing the challenges that changes in our weather patterns will present and some Policies in the Local Plan will help to address this.

In addition to Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SuDS) we will be advocating new approaches to promote water conservation such as the use of water efficient showers and taps, low-flush toilets and the introduction of grey water systems where waste water from showers and sinks is re-used for flushing toilets or watering gardens. In countries like Australia where water is more scarce, grey water systems are in common usage but not in the UK as yet. Property owners will be encouraged to adopt low-cost measures such as the use of water butts to collect rainwater from downpipes for use in watering gardens etc and the use of more efficient irrigation methods such as trickle hoses will be encouraged for watering plants.

 

Severn Trent Water is working with partners and making significant investments for minimising leaks, replacing pipes, improvements to storm overflows across the City network and increasing capacity for water supply with a recent £78m upgrade of the treatment works at Finham including a 4 million litre mega tank.

The City Council with its partners will continue to progress its ambitious Urban Forestry Strategy to plant over 360,000 trees by 2031 with 20% of the city having a canopy cover. Improved standards for tree maintenance will be used and plants especially street trees that are better adapted to the hotter drier summers will be selected for use.

Large areas of concrete surfacing store the heat from the sun creating what are often referred to as heat islands sometimes creating temperatures that are as much as 4 to 5 oC higher than cooler spaces nearby. Green plants on the other hand, reflect much of the incoming solar radiation, as well as often providing shade. All of which helps to reduce the surface temperatures that people are exposed to. In cities like London we can find lots of examples of the use of turf roofs and living walls where growing plants on buildings help to cool the buildings down and also help to clean the air of pollutants. The City’s planning policy team will encourage the integration of such features in new development and refurbishments where possible.

 

We need to increase access to green and blue space in the city. Creating and improving the quality of green spaces in the most green-deprived and built-up areas is a priority, which would help to improve air quality, create a cooling effect, reduce flood risk and promote well-being by connecting residents to nature. Some areas of green space especially near rivers can be allowed to flood as a store for excess water slowing the rates of flow and diverting flood waters away from local housing and development. There is a proposal for the transfer of water through a new pipeline from Minworth to the Coventry Canal at Atherstone where the water will then pass through the Coventry, Oxford and Grand Union Canal transferring 115 million litres of water from the Midlands to meet demands in the Southeast. This may also be of benefit to Coventry during periods of water shortage.  

The Council is actively addressing this through ‘Green for All’, receiving just under £1m through the Nature Towns and Cities programme to develop a new green and blue plan for the city to put nature at the heart of placemaking. This will involve identifying opportunities to improve spaces and create new ones, engaging communities and delivering training over the next 2.5 years. The Council is working with several partners on this ambitious project, including:

• Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
• John Muir Trust
• National Trust
• Coventry University
• University of Warwick
• Garden Organic
• Historic Coventry Trust and Grapevine

 

The Coventry Grows Project is helping to identify and transform new areas of greenspace supporting community  organisations to use Council land for amenity, wildlife conservation and food growing. The project has been funded by EON, with support from Garden Organic and Grapevine working in some of the least green parts of the city. This contributes to reducing e the risk of flooding by slowing the rate of flow of water, promote natural water filtration as well as helping to cool the city.

 

The Council is soon to launch a community growing sites policy, which will enable residents and community groups to lease unused Council land for gardening, which could include food growing, wildlife gardening and planting of fruit trees. This will help to address the issue of food security and rising food prices. We will also be seeking funding and resources also will include providing support for the development of social enterprises relating to food growing and cookery skills making food available to benefit families living in disadvantaged communities.

The City will also find ways of addressing the fundamental issues of security of supply food distribution and supply for in times of emergency or crisis working with the Food Network in applying the 7 steps to narrowing the UK civil food resilience gap outlined in the ‘Just in Case’ Report to the National Preparedness Commission but applied to the local context.

 

Learning from the City’s multi agency work to address fuel poverty the experiences of identifying warm refuges for vulnerable people to go to in the cold winter months aims to do likewise in identifying cool spaces ‘cooling centres’ for people to go to in the hot summer months.  

In addition to keeping cool in summer and despite the predicted rise in temperature in the winter months there are still risks from the effects of cold and the rising humidity levels in the winter months are likely to have an adverse effect on indoor living conditions with increased damp and mould. The increased volatility, such as sharp cold snaps interspersed with mild, wet, and stormy periods, can cause even more damage and health risks than consistent, predictable winters. Furthermore, the financial costs associated with repairing damage and adapting to a wetter, more unstable climate will likely lead to lower overall living standards for many. 

The City Council is working with E.ON its strategic energy partner on a improving the energy efficiency to improve comfort levels in homes through a series of practical energy efficiency retrofit programmes for those less energy efficient households. The strategic energy partnership are also addressing ways of reducing bills for those in fuel poverty using methods of storing electricity from off peak periods to use at other times when needed.

The increased volatility, such as sharp cold snaps interspersed with mild, wet, and stormy periods, can cause even more damage and health risks than consistent, predictable winters. Furthermore, the financial costs associated with repairing damage and adapting to a wetter, more unstable climate will likely lead to lower overall living standards for many.

With support from the University of Birmingham’s indoor air quality specialists the retrofit teams are monitoring how different energy efficiency measures affect living conditions before and after retrofit to make sure the best approaches are adapted for use for each of the specific housing types which improve living conditions the most and reduce the risk of damp and mould etc.