Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the release of beavers at Greathough Brook in the Forest of Dean, on the ability of the land to retain water and prevent flooding in nearby residential areas.

Forestry England worked with experts at the Beaver Trust to introduce beavers within an enclosure at the Forest of Dean. One of the aims of the project was to hold stormwater flow back to mitigate against future flooding downstream. Forestry England commissioned the University of Exeter to carry out an impact assessment relating to beaver activity and natural flood management which was published in 2020. This is publicly available at Hydrological Processes | Hydrology Journal | Wiley Online Library and a copy is attached to this answer.

The study found that the introduction of beavers had a beneficial effect on flow attenuation during storm events.