Caersws Flood Action Group has been represented in the recent Severn Together campaign, which brought communities from across Powys and Shropshire together to call for stronger, long-term action on flooding along the River Severn.
Councillor Malcolm Carroll, representing the Caersws Flood Action Group and Caersws Community Council, took part in the initiative, helping ensure that the experiences and concerns of our local community were included in the wider discussion about the future management of the River Severn.
The Severn Together: Communities in Action campaign saw participants travel by canoe along the River Severn from Llanidloes to Bridgnorth between 1 and 6 September, meeting residents, businesses, farmers, and community groups along the way.
The campaign is calling on the UK and Welsh Governments to give full backing to the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme (SVWMS) — a long-term, catchment-wide approach intended to improve flood resilience, water security and management of the River Severn across both Wales and England.
For communities such as Caersws, which know first-hand the impact that flooding can have, it is important that local experiences form part of these discussions and that upstream communities have a voice in decisions about how the whole Severn catchment is managed.
The campaign highlights the need to move beyond individual or short-term measures and instead consider the River Severn as a whole. Severn Together is calling for a coordinated approach capable of managing water during periods of heavy rainfall while also improving resilience during periods of drought.
Caersws Community Council welcomes the opportunity for the Caersws Flood Action Group to contribute to this wider regional conversation and thanks Cllr Malcolm Carroll for representing the community.
Residents interested in learning more about the campaign, or who would like to share their own experiences of flooding and water management, can visit:
Severn Together – Communities in Action
👉 www.severntogether.org
The campaign has also received regional media coverage as it travelled down the Severn, helping to raise the profile of the issues faced by communities throughout the catchment.
