Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what additional support he has made available to communities in North Yorkshire and York to deal with the flooding resulting from Storm Christoph.

As of 18:00 hours on 21 January 2021, the Environment Agency (EA) had 44 Flood warnings and 33 Flood Alerts in force across Yorkshire. These included flood warnings for York and the surrounding area and at multiple other locations throughout North Yorkshire.

The Environment Agency’s Yorkshire incident room is open and will continue to monitor rainfall and the corresponding impact on river levels. Flood Alerts and Flood Warnings will continue to be issued as appropriate and the Environment Agency is working closely with partner organisations, at a strategic and tactical level as well as on the ground, to coordinate the response.

The Environment Agency’s existing flood defences in York and North Yorkshire have performed as expected although this is a continuing situation and is being closely monitored. Flooding would have been more extensive if these defences had not been in place. In York, the Environment Agency is operating the Foss Barrier to protect properties in the River Foss catchment and to support its flood defences on the River Ouse. Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, the Environment Agency is supporting a multi-agency response, including a major pumping operation, to reduce the risk of flooding in Malton and Norton.

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Following the flooding in 2015, Government provided £45m to better protect York. A programme of projects is being delivered to improve existing protection, build new defences for undefended areas and install property level resilience. Some of this work is complete, and 3 major schemes will begin construction this year. In addition £37m has been invested in improving the resilience and upgrade of the Foss Barrier. The Environment Agency is modelling the river catchments upstream of York to identify options for future flood investment to further reduce flood risk in the city.