The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)
I am today laying before Parliament a first “National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England” and statutory guidance on “Co-operation and requesting information in flood and coastal erosion risk management”. Both documents are being presented in accordance with section 7 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and stem from Sir Michael Pitt’s review of the widespread flooding in 2007, and will be issued on 18 July unless either House resolves that they should not be issued.
The national strategy will provide a legally binding framework in setting out how communities, the public sector and other organisations will work together to manage flood and coastal erosion risk. The national strategy describes:
The Environment Agency’s strategic overview role for all sources of flood risk and coastal erosion, and the approach they will take to managing the risk of flooding from main rivers and the sea;
The framework within which lead local flood authorities can work with other risk management authorities to manage local flood risk in their areas;
The work by coastal erosion risk management authorities to manage our changing coastlines, and;
How national funding and resources will be targeted towards flood and coastal erosion risk management activity in the coming years.
Copies of the national strategy and guidance on co-operation and requesting information are available to Members of the House from the Official Documents website and the Vote Office.
This Government are committed to making sure that as many communities as possible have the opportunity of benefiting from flood and coastal defences. I am therefore pleased to inform the House that following full public consultation earlier this year, my Department is today setting out a new partnership approach to funding flood and coastal resilience. The new approach aims to be both fairer and more transparent than the system it replaces, and offers the potential for much more to be achieved.
Instead of meeting the full costs of just a limited number of projects, the new approach could make Government money available towards any worthwhile scheme. Funding levels for each scheme will relate directly to the number of households protected, the value of damages being prevented, plus the other benefits a scheme would deliver. For the first time grants for surface water management and property-level protection will be available alongside funding for other risks and approaches. The reforms will not affect the amount of money that the Government themselves will invest in the coming years.
The new approach encourages better value for taxpayers’ money and greater local and private contributions to come forward, in recognition of the benefits being delivered. Choices can be taken locally on whether, and how, contributions might be found. All funds invested in this way will supplement national budgets and mean more communities can be protected. By encouraging greater local choice, and more local investment, we will ensure that local ambitions for protection are not dictated by what Government alone can afford. The new approach reflects suggestions made by Sir Michael Pitt, who recommended Government introduce a scheme that allows and encourages greater local investment.
I have today written to the chair of the Environment Agency to ask this approach be adopted for all future funding approvals. The coming months will be treated as a transitional period allowing lessons to be learned and the approach to be refined before final arrangements are confirmed in time to apply from April 2013.
Finally, I would like to inform the House that summaries of responses to the following consultations and other supporting documents are also being published today:
“Consultation on a National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England”.
“Consultation on Statutory Guidance on Co-operation and Requesting Information in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management”.
“Future funding for flood and coastal erosion risk management: Consultation on the future Capital Grant-In-Aid Allocation Process in England”.
“Consultation on Guidance to Lead Local Flood Authorities on their Contribution to Sustainable Development”.
The first two are available from the Environment Agency’s website, and the latter two can be found on DEFRA’s website.