Government spends nearly £3M on flood measures

The Environment Minister, Thérèse Coffey, announced, on Monday 22^nd July 2019, that the government is investing £2.9M into the research and uptake of property-level flood resilience measures to improve the protection of homes and businesses.

The allocation of funding followed a competitive evaluation process which saw Yorkshire, Cornwall and Devon, and central England each receive up to £700,000 in order to fund new research initiatives, demonstration centres, and advice portals that can help people to recognise the benefits of installing home measures.

Property-level flood resilience measures are used to reduce the potential impacts of flooding in buildings are can include a wide variety of means such as flood doors, hard floors, and the raising of electrics off of ground level, with the ultimate goal of these measures being to reduce the amount of time people are forced from their homes after flooding.

Minister Coffey stated: “I am delighted to award funding to the pathfinder flood resilience projects in the Ox-Cam arc, Yorkshire and the South West.

“I expect the councils and organisations involved will increase the take up of property resilience measures by homeowners and businesses, making their properties safer, and quicker to return to if flooding does happen.”

The Oxford-Cambridge Pathfinder, led by Northamptonshire County Council, shall be centred around the construction of 1M high-quality homes in the area by 2050, with ten communities already identified for engagement.

The Yorkshire Flood Resilience Pathfinder project, led by the City of York Council, will encourage more people to apply flood resilience measures to their properties through construction of a community hub and learning lab that will be key facilities in a large scale training programme.

And, lastly, the South West partnership project, led by Cornwall County Council, enhance future application of flood resilience measures through construction of a demonstration hub and creation of a web portal for online learning and information.

Chair of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd added: “This new funding is a welcome step forwards for our efforts to boost the uptake of property-level resilience measures in homes and businesses across the country.

“The Environment Agency will work closely with the local authorities and organisations taking forward the Pathfinder projects to support their work and share lessons learnt. Our experience shows that making these small changes in the home can make a huge difference to people’s lives when flooding takes place.”

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