The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Elizabeth Truss)
This statement updates the House on Government action to prepare for potential flooding this winter.
Protecting the country from flooding is a core DEFRA priority. This Government are investing £3.2 billion in flood defences in this Parliament, compared to £2.7 billion in the previous five years. This represents a real- terms increase and is helping us better protect over 165,000 properties since 2010. In addition, for the first time we have committed to six years of future capital spending to protect a further 300,000 properties and provide long-term planning for flood resilience.
Winter 2013-14
Last winter saw the wettest weather on record. There were record river flows, sea levels, wave heights and groundwater levels across widespread areas of the country. Although flood defences protected 1.4 million homes, 8,342 homes were flooded and thousands of people were affected by disruption to businesses, infrastructure, transport and utilities.
Since then the Government have led a major flood recovery effort, including committing more than £560 million in recovery support funding. The result is that going into this winter every community is at least as well or better protected than it was last winter. In England, 844 flood defences owned by the Environment Agency, local authorities and others were damaged over the winter. All of the flood defences damaged last winter have been repaired, with either permanent or temporary repairs. DEFRA made an extra £270 million available to repair these defences. Permanent defences have been restored to over 200,000 properties. The Government have committed more than £20 million to help Somerset, which was particularly hard hit.
Somerset
In Somerset, the dredging of the Rivers Tone and Parrett was completed on time and on budget at the end of October. Somerset has been awarded a further £13.1 million through the local growth fund for more dredging; developing options for a Bridgwater Barrier; and a project to increase capacity of the River Sowy. Work is under way to raise key roads at Beer Wall and Muchelney. The Government are working with Somerset county council and others to establish a new rivers authority that will give local people the power to manage their flood risk.
Military assistance
Last winter highlighted the valuable contribution our armed forces can make. The Government have simplified the process by which local responders can request military help in emergencies, and local authorities were informed of the new arrangements in October.
Improving resilience
The Government are also taking action to improve the resilience of our transport, energy and water supply networks. For example, a review into resilience of transport networks was published in July and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Patrick McLoughlin) will today publish the Government’s response. DEFRA has also been working with water companies as they review their emergency plans to ensure water supplies are not affected by flooding.
Working with communities
Locally, we are improving the way we work with communities to give them clarity on what works are being undertaken and the outcomes they will deliver. The Environment Agency has held local meetings across the country to explain its current maintenance programme, giving people the opportunity to contribute to and influence these programmes. We are also removing barriers for individuals and local groups to undertake work such as dredging watercourses through the river maintenance pilots scheme.
Working with local authorities
We are working with local authorities to plan for flood risk through the development of local flood risk management strategies. We have identified those authorities where we feel work is most urgent, and we are strongly encouraging them to get strategies in place as soon as possible. We have also started work on a review of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act, to check that flood risk is being properly managed at a local level.
National level preparedness
We have improved our ability to respond to emergencies at a national level. For example, we will hold precautionary COBRA meetings if significant flooding is likely in advance of public holidays. This will help us ensure all organisations are fully prepared and ready to respond. The arrangements for making use of temporary flood defences and pumps have also been improved. On the recovery effort, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities (Eric Pickles) is updating the House today.
Flood insurance
We are taking action to ensure people at risk of flooding can protect themselves by securing affordable home insurance. The new Flood Re scheme will limit the amount that people pay for floods cover when it is introduced next year.
Raising awareness
In October, we launched the national “Get Ready for Winter” campaign with the Met Office to encourage people and communities to think about preparing for winter. This month is the Environment Agency’s “flood awareness month”, and it has been explaining how to prepare and encouraging more people to join the 1 million who are already signed up to the flood warning service.
Funding
Comparing this Parliament—2010-11 to 2014-15—to the previous five years, investment in flood risk management has increased in real terms by 5%. Over the coming six-year period, we will be making record levels of investment (£2.3 billion) in capital flood defence projects. This will begin with £370 million in 2015-16 and then the same in real terms each year, rising to over £400 million in 2020-21. This is the first time that such a long-term settlement has been set out demonstrating our commitment to managing flood risk and providing communities with increased security.
This investment will deliver long-term value for money and reduce the risk of flooding to a further 300,000 households between April 2015 and March 2021, on top of the 165,000 protected during the current spending period. By the end of the decade, we will have provided a better level of protection to at least 465,000 households.
Conclusion
Despite the exceptional weather conditions experienced last winter, in the large majority of cases our defences stood up well. They protected around 1.4 million properties and more than 600,000 acres of farmland from flooding. This underlines the importance of continuing our investment in flood defences. We have one of the best forecasting and warning systems in the world. We are determined to reduce the risk further and provide better protection for people’s homes, farms and businesses across the country. We have acted on the lessons from last winter and together with our local partners we are better prepared than ever before.