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From its source in rural Norfolk to its entry into the North Sea through the port of King’s Lynn the Gaywood River is little more than 13 kilometres long. Although the area is, in principle, privileged in its natural assets, the situation today shows evidence of a degraded environment and a society that is disconnected from the natural world. It is widely recognised that new and innovative approaches are needed to better plan and integrate the different natural and socio-economic elements of the area into a more unified whole. The Gaywood river valley, as a vital interconnecting corridor of green space, provides a common resource and offers opportunities to test new ideas for addressing the problem of spatial and social fragmentation. Further challenges come from the planned expansion of King’s Lynn and from climate change, since the town and new homes planned to be built there are vulnerable to increasing flood threats.

The Project is of interest to our study because it provides for a comparison to be made between the default option for flood alleviation and alternative options that potentially are superior and multidimensional. This would enable the added value of an ecosystems approach in developing, justifying and implementing a superior option to be demonstrated clearly, if a superior option does emerge and is implemented. The project is also innovative in its approach of combining socio-economic issues with the management of land and water at a catchment scale. The project might therefore yield insights into the extent to which an ecosystems approach can provide a framework and stimulus for decision making that is socially inclusive and proactive in helping to resolve conflicting priorities.