The Aire Resilience Company (ARC) offers an exciting opportunity for the Leeds business community to come together to support farmers and landowners in making Leeds and the Aire Valley more resilient to climate change and a greener, more sustainable place to do business for the future.
ARC is an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) facilitating the delivery of long-term, evidence-based natural flood management interventions (NFM) in the mid and upper Aire Valley. These NFM measures will complement and enhance the protection afforded by the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme (LFAS). This approach will create long-term resilience against the impact of climate change and ensure the future protection of Leeds and its surrounding areas for decades to come.
ARC is built on a consortium of local businesses and institutions all playing a leading role in increasing resilience and reducing the risk of the River Aire flooding in Leeds. As members of the ARC consortium, businesses benefit from enhanced flood risk reduction along with a range of additional benefits derived from using methods that work with nature to manage the impact of heavy rainfall.
Working in partnership
Nature-based solutions
Blends public & private finance
Our Consortium of Businesses
ARC is funded by a consortium of local businesses who recognise the importance of acting now to safeguard Leeds and the Aire Valley against the impact of climate change. Members of the consortium demonstrate environmental pioneering, highlighting Leeds as a national leader in developing city and regional resilience against the future challenges brought by our changing climate.
Farmers and landowners leading the way to a more resilient Aire Valley
Farmers and landowners are essential to the success of ARC. The measures we put in place will be hosted and maintained by farmers and landowners, who share our understanding of working with nature to improve the landscape and reduce risks of flooding.
Through our flood modelling we know the best places to install NFM measures. We will work with farmers to pay them for using their land which improves local agriculture and the environment.
Many of the measures delivered through ARC have a beneficial impact on land productivity, providing multiple benefits due to improved soil structure, better water management, enhanced biodiversity and improved water quality.
Why the Aire Resilience Company is necessary
Leeds, and the Aire Valley, have direct experience of the significant damage and disruption that severe weather can have on people’s lives, livelihoods and communities. The 2015 Boxing Day floods in Leeds caused over £500m of damage and left homeowners and businesses counting the cost of damage to property, lost business and harm to infrastructure. Since 2015, there have been further examples of flooding in Leeds and several ‘near-misses’.
The Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme (LFAS) completed in 2024 was funded through central and local government. This large-scale engineered defence delivery provides protection to Leeds from a repeat of the storms that caused the Boxing Day floods of 2015. However, if we are to ‘future proof’ this level of protection against the impact of climate change, there is a need to secure additional financial support to deliver and maintain the additional NFM work required. The Aire Resilience Company was created to do this and to ensure that funding is then channelled to the right people to deliver the most impactful work reducing flood risks and bringing additional environmental benefit because of working with the natural environment.
The Aire Resilience Company will work upstream of Leeds, in the Aire Valley to put in place NFM that can intercept and slow the flow of rainwater into the river system, preventing it from arriving in Leeds all at once and retaining it in the valley for longer. This also helps to reduce the impact of periods of drought.
Such measures will reduce the demand and strain placed on Leeds flood defences and as rainfall levels increase during winters due to climate change. They will complement the flood defences so that Leeds does not experience the kind of flooding that in 2015 caused so much damage and distress.
Learn more about how the Aire Resilience Company is making Leeds climate ready.
Work with us
Demonstrate real climate leadership and join us in taking a unique approach to natural flood management in the Aire catchment through creation of a NFM Buyer Consortium.
If you are a business or landowner in the Aire Valley and are interested in finding out more about how you can benefit from ARC please contact us.
Find out how we aim to guard against flooding in the Aire Valley
For updates and developments in the work of ARC, please visit our News section
