Reclaiming the Rain in Friston
Friston is a village in Suffolk, located approximately two miles from the coast, and is known for its beautiful architecture, including the 16th Century historic Friston Hall
Working with the Community
To find the value in flood water, it’s important to get to know the community of Friston. Tapping into the local flood risk knowledge and asking for the community’s bright ideas for water reuse.
Drop in Sessions
We are hosting drop-in sessions which are open to everyone in the community. This will allow our team to share more about the project, hear stories from the community and answer any questions.
parish Council
We have attended parish council meetings to introduce Reclaim the Rain and to update the community on our project progress.
Working Group Meetings
We have established a small community working group of passionate local people and have been hosting workshops to identify the issues and opportunities in the catchment. We are now using these workshops to develop scheme ideas for Friston and maximise the benefit to the community.
The Swift newsletter
As well as utilising social media, the Project Team write articles to be featured in the local newsletter to spread the word about the project and engage as much of the wider community as possible.
Friston From the air
Why Was friston chosen?
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Most of the surrounding land in and around Friston is used for agricultural practices, offering the potential for many water reuse opportunities to support business. To date, Friston has shown to be an engaged community, so there may be a range of social opportunities to explore for reuse too.
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Friston like many other villages in east Anglia, is at risk of not having enough water available to meet demand, especially given the local context of agricultural practices and water need in the catchment area.
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Known historical flood risk, surface water modelling has been done for this catchment in response to previous significant flood events.
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Friston was the first community to express interest in Reclaim the Rain and were very proactive to get started and gain project momentum. This support and interest have been maintained since Friston was chosen as one of our communities.
The photographs of the Friston meadow are by Ian Cook https://www.iancookphotography.com
Problems and Challenges Facing Friston
Friston is a picturesque village in Suffolk. Like many rural villages, Friston faces difficult challenges, including historic flooding, many of which have caused damage to homes and properties.
flooding
Flooding is a significant problem in the village with many residents having experienced flooding multiple times in various locations
Recent flood risk studies of Friston found there’s a risk to residential and commercial buildings from surface water. This means that planning to increase resilience in the village is very important and allows the village to put presently ‘problematic’ excess water to good use.
Water Scarcity
The majority of land in Friston is currently used for agriculture and recently vegetable growing. Some landowners need to irrigate and therefore rely on the availability of water to produce sufficient crop yield and a sustainable business. This demand to meet water resource needs is likely to become increasingly more challenging in the future with climate change.
