Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) has completed an engagement process to shape its future approach to dealing with flooding bringing together operational staff, partner agencies, and community representatives in a series of “Flooding Balanced Room” workshops.

The Balanced Room approach ensured all voices were heard equally, fostering collaboration and co-design of solutions to a pressing challenge - the increasing risk and impact of flooding in Mid and West Wales.

Within the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service area around 31,000 properties are at risk from flooding.

Of these, nearly 24,000 are at risk from river flooding and over 7,000 at risk of tidal flooding.

On average the Service attends around 300 incidents of water rescues and weather related flooding annually.

Flooding incidents are increasing in frequency and impact driven by climate change, including higher rainfall intensity and sustained weather events.

These events pose significant risks to firefighter and community safety, disrupt essential services, damage property, and place sustained demand on Service resources, highlighting that current “one size fits all” response arrangements are no longer sufficient.

Across two workshops and an online session, participants generated and tested ideas against agreed criteria.

This process resulted in four appraisal priorities: Prevention First, Collaboration and Partnership, Enhanced Specialist Capability, and Learning and Continuous Improvement.

Eleven initial options were then streamlined into five, aligned to the themes of Prevention, Protection, Response, and Recovery, forming a focused set of proposals for appraisal and executive consideration.

These options have now been assessed against the agreed criteria, with recommendations presented to the Service’s Executive Leadership Team.

Discussions focused on priorities, sequencing, and how the proposals will be integrated into the Service’s flooding strategy and the CRMP 2040.

Iwan Cray, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The Flooding Balanced Room process has highlighted the importance of collaboration.

“By listening to our staff, partners, and communities, we’ve created practical, forward‑thinking solutions that will strengthen our ability to prevent and manage flooding in Mid and West Wales. Together, we can build a safer, more resilient Wales.”

For more information on the CRMP 2040 journey and the future approach to dealing with flooding, visit Community Risk Management Plan 2040 or contact [email protected]