Work is underway in Mansfield’s Market Street as Severn Trent’s £76 million project goes from strength to strength to protect the town against the increasing risk of flooding.

The town is set to be transformed over the next couple of years and will see communities more resilient against the increasing threat of flooding from climate change, population growth and urban development.

The project is seeing Severn Trent turning to nature to install Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) across the town – an environmentally friendly way of slowing surface water down by storing and filtering it before returning it to the network, meaning the network isn’t overwhelmed in storm events.

Since completing the first raingarden in the town centre back in February, which was the first milestone of the project, Severn Trent has been moving full speed ahead – completing rain gardens in areas such as Queen Street and outside of The Courthouse.

Phase two of the town centre works is now underway, with two rain gardens being installed on Market Street that will be capable of storing 30,000 litres of rainwater during storms – the work is due to be completed in early Autumn.

It comes as the project won the ‘Natural Capital Initiative of the Year’ award at the Water Industry Awards in Birmingham earlier this month.

Adam Boucher, from Severn Trent, said: “We’re delighted to be making great progress on this important project alongside Galliford Try, Mansfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council to develop a greener, cleaner vision for Mansfield and reduce the flood risk for 90,000 local people.

When these raingardens are in full bloom, they will make the town centre a much more pleasant place to live, work and visit, whilst reducing flood risk. 

“SuDS like raingardens also have a secondary benefit of holding water back from our sewer network in storm events. Taking pressure off the network like this will mean that we reduce the need for storm overflow activations, thus improving river health locally, which supports our Get River Positive commitment that our operations will not be the reason for unhealthy rivers by 2030.”

Councillor Andy Burgin, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Leisure at Mansfield District Council, said: “The innovative Severn Trent programme fits perfectly with our ambitious plans to 'green up' Mansfield. 

“These gardens bring endless benefits to our communities, alleviate the growing risk of flooding, and make Mansfield cleaner and greener.

“I am confident as the roll-out of these rain gardens continues that it will help to make Mansfield more attractive and encourage people to spend more time in the town centre for the benefit of the local economy, our residents and visitors.”

For more information on the work happening in Mansfield, please visit stwater.co.uk/Mansfield