Catchment to Coast is working with partners and local people at sites across Southend and Thurrock to improve resilience to drought, flooding and coastal erosion.
93% of residents agree it’s important to take action now to address the impacts of climate change
We asked residents what they thought about the risks of flooding and droughts. There is strong support for projects that would make Southend and Thurrock more resilient to the effects of climate change.
This includes innovative new approaches like leaky dams and rainwater harvesting systems as well as traditional engineered solutions like groynes and sea walls.
We’re taking a catchment-based approach in this project. This means that we’re considering the entire journey of water, from when it falls out of our skies, to when it reaches the sea at our coast.
What we’re doing on our sites across the catchment.
24/07/2026: Waiting for quote
The roundabout design is done, we are currently waiting for a quote and programming
16/07/2026: Fairmead Avenue installations
35 devices were installed in July across 21 Fairmead Avenue locations: homes, a school and two churches. You can see the water butts in situ at Westcliff Spiritualist Church and St Andrews Church.
08/05/2026: Water butts on the way
We’re finalising arrangements for a temporary storage location for our new water butts, where they’ll be safe and sound until we can install them, hopefully in June.
15/04/2026: Leaky dams built
The five leaky dams in Belfairs Wood are now built. We’ve also installed a mycelium bag further upstream. We’re monitoring their performance and testing for water quality changes due to the mycelium bag.
Catchment to Coast is a collaborative project, working with all sorts of partners and with the community too. You can find out more about all the great people we’re working with on our partners page.
Read all about the people and events connected to Catchment to Coast.
There are many different ways you can get involved in Catchment to Coast, by adopting one of our measures, coming to an event or sharing your stories and opinions. You can also help reduce flooding and drought risks, or simply read and learn more.
