Bampton Village Memorial Hall opened its doors on Saturday 6th June to residents from across the River Lowther Catchment area to view the findings of a recent flooding survey. Iain Williamson, Chair of the Group explained ‘over the few months we’ve begun to build strong links with various agencies and interested scientific and ecological parties to provide a clear channel for information and knowledge to help our community understand so much more about changes coming our way. Primarily we’re looking at monitoring and measuring changes in river flows and developing mitigation action plans to assist residents concerns about impacts to their livelihoods and properties.  

In attendance were representatives from Cumbria Connect who were providing updates on how landscape recovery schemes will enhance the ecology in the area and to discuss with residents their interest in the recent sightings of wild beaver in the Lowther Valley.  A very good turnout of locals was reported with many asking what measures were being implemented to protect against flash flooding and what will happen once the River Lowther finds its old course having breached its bank recently close to the village hall. Emma Hughes, Community Engagement Officer for Cumbria Connect said ‘bringing people together for this Open Event has given us an opportunity to understand further the needs and sensitivities of local communities when developing landscape ecology projects’. The Group will be engaging further with agencies in the coming months to reach a deeper understanding of changes occurring in the catchment area and are actively searching for grant funding to participate in various ‘citizen science’ project using equipment to be funded by such grants. The full results of the flooding survey maybe accessed below.