Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 25 March 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(1) what discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on the provision of adequate funding to prepare and adapt homes, businesses, agricultural practices and infrastructure against the threat of flooding;
(2) what additional funding his Department has made available to the Environment Agency for new projects to prepare and adapt homes, businesses, agricultural practices and infrastructure against the threat of flooding.
DEFRA is on course to spend £2.3 billion on reducing the risk from flooding and coastal erosion over the four years to 2015. The Partnership Funding approach makes funding available towards any worthwhile flood and coastal erosion risk management scheme. The amount of funding the scheme will attract is based on factors such as damages avoided to homes, businesses, agricultural land and infrastructure.
Many flood management projects, funded wholly or partly by DEFRA, and maintenance work, undertaken by the Environment Agency, reduce the risk to farmland. For example, schemes which completed in 2011-12 provided an improved standard of flood protection to more than 180,000 acres [74,000 hectares] of farm land.
The partnership funding formula sets the economic benefits of protecting critical infrastructure at a lower rate than for protecting households. This sends a clear signal to the owners of critical infrastructure that they must adapt and make it more resilient to climate change, not expect the taxpayer to defend it in every case.
The 2012 autumn statement announced £120 million for flood defences in England during this spending period, which will speed up the construction of around 50 schemes, protecting up to 60,000 households and delivering up to £1 billion in economic benefits. Half of the funding has been targeted to schemes that will, in addition to delivering improved protection to households, deliver economic growth, create jobs and grow the economy.
For example new defences can now go ahead in Exeter (which will create over 1,000 jobs, protect over 2,000 homes and businesses which employ 4,700 people) and in Ipswich a tidal barrier will improve flood protection to ten hectares (24.7 acres) of development land attracting more business to the area and creating 4,000 jobs.
On
The scheme aims to:
Enhance flood risk management and preparedness in ways which improve a community's overall resilience;
Demonstrably improve the community's financial resilience in relation to flooding; and
Deliver sustained improvements which have the potential to be applied in other areas.
Projects funded under this scheme are likely to combine a number of different elements which, taken together, could achieve a significant, quantifiable improvement in resilience. The kinds of project that could be funded include:
Installation of property level protection measures coupled with a wider package of innovative community measures;
Improving local flood risk mapping and modelling where existing data sets may not accurately capture the local level of risk;
Inspiring local communities to become more active participants in their flood management by supporting practical measures such as “gully watch” schemes or installation of local monitoring equipment;
Disseminating information or carrying out local exercises to improve flood awareness and preparedness;
Building financial resilience such as developing new insurance with rent schemes.
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