Community Flood Action Groups
A flood action group is a voluntary group of local residents who meet on a regular basis to work on behalf of the wider community to help to try and reduce the impact of future flood events. The focus of the group can be based around emergency planning and can also tackle local issues, whilst providing a unified voice for the community to communicate ideas and queries to others.
It is within the remit of each individual group to decide on its own roles, responsibilities, aims and objectives.
The roles of a flood action group could include:
- Spread awareness of flood risk within the community.
- Monitor local conditions e.g. community volunteers keeping an eye out for blocked drains.
- Develop and review a community flood plan.
- Look out for vulnerable members of the community.
- Prepare for and take action during a flood event.
- Identify key flooding issues within the community and who is responsible.
- Build relationships and lines of communication with key agencies.
- Lobbying of decision makers and commenting on Government consultations.
- Influence the development of future flood scheme opportunities to better manage flood risk.
For more information, download our resource on flood action groups here.
Depending on the scope of the work, it could be recommended that a flood action group has public liability insurance. This may be available through your local neighbourhood watch group.
An established group can encourage the wider community to get involved, including not just residents but also local businesses, landowners and professional partners, as they can be important in improving flood resilience within the community. Our resource on how to reduce the impacts of flooding contains information on community flood resilience and can be downloaded here.
If your community is situated in a flood warning area, you can encourage residents and local businesses to sign up to receive flood alerts and warnings; and check out the ‘Check for Flooding’ service, both of which are free services from the Environment Agency.
Hover over each benefit below to explore the multiple benefits of community flood groups.
Download the full resource with explanations here.
A flood event often focuses attention to flood risk issues which can be localised to individuals and communities, or could affect the wider area leading to a catchment approach. Flooding issues that arise may relate to rivers or smaller watercourses, sewers and drainage, infrastructure care and maintenance, and much more. A community that has experienced flooding may be best placed to assess where issues arise, and can work with Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) to consider potential solutions. Communities can work together with key RMAs to manage their flood risk by forming a flood action group. A flood action group can work on behalf of the wider community, providing a single voice that can work/communicate with the RMAs to find solutions.
Community Flood Planning
Planning ahead for flooding will ensure that the community can respond to the incident in the most efficient way. Together you can create a plan of action that enables help to be easily provided for individuals who need extra assistance when flooding occurs, and ensures that when a flood alert or warning is received community members know what actions to take.
Prior to becoming involved with community flood planning, individuals should firstly plan and prepare for flooding to their own property if it is at risk. It may be the case that no formal flood plan or flood scheme is put in place for your community, which is why it is beneficial to plan for general resilience. For more information on how to get prepared and become more resilient, visit our Household or Business pages.
Community Flood Resilience Schemes
A community scheme can be a great way to increase a community’s flood resilience, with each scheme being tailored to suit the specific needs of the area. The size of the scheme will vary between communities, and can protect the community in different ways, from installing property flood resilience (PFR) measures to individual properties, to deploying larger defences to protect a certain area within the community.
It is a good idea to get a flood survey carried out to identify the best course of action for protection, and the range of options available to your community. You will also need to ensure that you consult the necessary agencies to obtain any permission for a scheme before it is developed, if needed.
Whether a community flood scheme is feasible or not, it is important that residents instead plan for general resilience to households and businesses individually. For more information on this, see our Household and Business pages.

Bob Embleton / Flood Barriers at Upton / CC BY-SA 2.0
It may be possible for a flood action group to access funding from local organisations to assist with community resilience. In order to access funding, the group may need to become a constituted group. A constitution is the ‘governing document’ of your group which sets out how you intend to run it, and shows funders that the group is organised if you are going to apply for grant funding.
Your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) can assist the flood action group in becoming constituted and can provide access to resources and information around running successful community groups.
Click here to download the resource below for links to some possible community funding sources.
Terraced Properties
Simple schemes could ensure that all the properties in a row of terraced houses install property flood resilience measures such as demountable door barriers. This will reduce the risk of floodwater seeping through the party wall from a neighbouring property. In these cases, consent will usually be needed from residents from each house to allow the scheme to go ahead.
Flood walls
Larger schemes may involve modifying or building a flood wall along a riverside or around a group of properties to protect a community. In these cases a flood risk assessment would usually be undertaken to ensure the flood risk is not increased elsewhere.
It is worth noting that there is a flood risk activities exemption for schemes that protect up to 6 adjoining properties using raised defences up to a meter high: ‘Constructing raised flood defences around a maximum of 6 adjoining properties (FRA26)’
Altering Flow Paths
Sometimes, permanent solutions are not appropriate so temporary barriers can be used to redirect water away from properties, such as across a cul-de-sac entrance. At a larger scale, flow paths could be altered to redirect water back to the watercourse using roads as temporary channels.
Products should be purchased from a reputable source, Know Your Flood Risk’s ‘Homeowner’s Guide to Flood Resilience’ has more information on available products. The Buy with Confidence scheme highlights trustworthy businesses to source products from. The Blue Pages is a directory of flood products which gives information on available options of protection, and this Trader Directory can be used to find traders in your local region.
You can ensure the quality of any products by checking that they are Kitemark certified meaning they have been thoroughly tested in a BSI (British Standards Institution) approved testing facility and therefore have good safety, quality and reliability. The BSI Kitemark for Flood Protection products is known as PAS1188. See here for more guidance on checking the certification of products.

Kitemark symbol
A community flood resilience scheme will usually include various communal flood defence products and equipment. This equipment will need to be stored in a suitable and easily accessible location to allow communities to respond quickly to the flooding. It should be maintained well and checked regularly as part of the flood plan to ensure it remains in working order.
At least two people should have access to this store; preferably those that own properties that are not at high risk of flooding. This means they are able to respond to the community’s needs with less chance of needing to attend to their own household or business needs first.
Our resource containing information on community flood schemes can be downloaded here.