“This will be of huge benefit to residents who’ve suffered repeated flooding - and to the wider community,” said Great Shefford resident Nick Voysey of the Lambourn Valley Flood Forum. The village’s £5.2m flood alleviation scheme, finished in June 2025, now offers improved protection for 26 homes close to the Great Shefford Stream.

For a small rural place, the engineering is straightforward and built to last. A new 1km diversion channel now carries high flows around the village. The passive design - a blend of underground pipeline, rectangular culverts and an open channel with a backwater where it meets the River Lambourn - requires no manual operation and has been set up to deliver biodiversity net gain.

“We’re delighted the scheme was completed over the summer,” said the Environment Agency’s Thames area director, Anna Burns. “The village has been badly affected in the past; we hope this brings better peace of mind when heavy rain arrives.” For residents, fewer sleepless nights during winter storms is the real test.

Delivery leaned heavily on local backing. The Great Shefford Flood Alleviation Association raised £80,000 to unlock wider funding, neighbours supported the works through construction, and West Berkshire Council kept the planning process moving so the Environment Agency could get the job done.

Construction started in May 2024. Contractor BAM led the build with designers Stantec; contract management came via Advantage RSK and Binnies, while Mott MacDonald handled site supervision and environmental oversight. Earlier appraisal work was carried out by Jacobs - a familiar cast on UK flood projects.

The numbers sit within a wider national effort. The Environment Agency reports more than 400,000 properties were made better protected by new defences between 2015 and 2024. Between April 2024 and March 2025, a further 27,543 properties were better protected across 145 schemes, spanning river, sea, surface water and coastal erosion projects.

Funding remains the pressure point. In February 2025, government confirmed £2.65bn for flood and coastal risk management and set a two‑year target to better protect 52,000 properties across 2024/25 and 2025/26. That money goes furthest where communities arrive with a plan and partners lined up.

So why cover West Berkshire in a Northern paper? Because the template travels. From the Calder Valley to South Yorkshire’s flood‑prone villages and Cumbrian market towns, three practices stand out: keep designs simple and low‑maintenance; organise locally to unlock external cash; and bake in environmental gains to smooth planning.

Practicalities matter too. Households can sign up for free warnings via Floodline on 0345 988 1188 and use the government’s online flood‑risk checker. The Environment Agency’s South East account on X posts regular updates; regional EA feeds across the North do the same when rivers start to rise.

Voysey’s hope is that this small scheme keeps paying back as the climate shifts. “The project will be of great value to the Lambourn Valley for many years, as we all learn to deal with the effects of climate change,” he said. Northern readers will recognise the message: prepare early, build well, and look after the river.