£700M boost for flood defences to protect communities

The Chancellor announced in his Budget yesterday an extra £700M in flood defence funding to ensure communities are protected from extreme weather.

As part of the government’s commitment to ensure communities are protected against extreme weather, the Chancellor has announced an extra £700M in flood defence funding, on top of the £2.3Bn of planned spending up to 2021.

This exceeds the government’s manifesto to build 1,500 flood defence schemes and represents a real terms increase in capital investment that is up from £1.7Bn in the last Parliament and £1.5Bn 2005-2010.

Environment Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, said: “Thanks to this additional funding communities across the north will be better protected from the devastating effects of the sort of extreme weather we saw in December.

“We are committed to securing the economic future of the Northern Powerhouse. By delivering improved flood defences and looking at what more we can do to slow the flow of flood waters across whole catchments we doing more than ever before to protect Yorkshire and Cumbria and keep them thriving and open for business.”

Up to 7,400 properties that were affected by the December floods will benefit from the £150M of capital spending to build flood defence schemes. Yorkshire will see £115M, with schemes in Leeds and £33M in Cumbria, for schemes in Kendal, Appleby, Flimby, Eamont Bridge, Wigton, Pooley Bridge, Rickerby Park and Braithwaite.

Once the Environment Agency has concluded the needs in Carlisle, the government has committed investing up to £25M in flood defences.

This brings the total capital commitment by 2021 in Yorkshire to £400M, with at least £43M being spent in Cumbria.

The £700M extra support also includes a £160M boost for the maintenance budget, taking it to more than £1Bn in this Parliament. This will help protect 20,000 houses by keeping flood defences already in place operational.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said: “I welcome the extra funding of £70M announced today for flood defence investment. It will help us do even more for local communities across the country, as the Environment Agency continues its vital work to repair flood defences in areas affected by December’s floods and to better protect thousand more homes and businesses from the risk of flooding.”

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