Ein cyf/Our ref: NICW/2501/DC/NRW

Sir David Henshaw

Chair

Natural Resources Wales

Copied to:

Martin Buckle

Chair

Flood and Coastal Erosion Committee

7 January 2025

Dear Sir David,

Re: Recommendations arising from our flooding report

In October NICW published a report and a set of recommendations on making Wales more resilient to flooding by 2050. We have since had several productive meetings with Welsh Government; we look forward to supporting them with implementing the recommendations according to their priorities.

The two core themes of the report are nature and community. Empowering and encouraging community resilience will be critical in the coming decades.

We believe that the majority of our recommendations are relevant for Natural Resources Wales (NRW), and would welcome your independent feedback on them. We would be particularly keen on feedback on:

• How NRW will build on existing community involvement in flooding to help build resilience
• A catchment approach to water and flood management for Wales

These and other recommendations may have implications for governance as well as policy, which might require consideration at Board level.

Throughout our work we've had considerable input and support from NRW staff, for which we are very grateful. We also had a productive discussion with your flood committee prior to the launch of the report and welcomed their support for our recommendations.

NICW has a role to play in convening discussions between different stakeholders, and we would be delighted to support any action by NRW that can help improve Wales’ preparedness for flooding.

We look forward to continuing our productive engagement with you and your colleagues on this important matter.

Yn gywir,