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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the eligibility criteria for the Property Flood Resilience repair grant scheme changed from 25 affected properties to 50; and whether his Department made an assessment of the potential impact of changing the eligibility criteria on the number of properties that would no longer be eligible before making the change.

The activation of the schemes in 2019 and 2020 was based on a qualifying criteria of 25 homes per local authority (including District level).

Feedback from local authorities following those schemes suggested that some reported that they missed out on financial support under the 2019/20 activations of the FRF because they did not meet the 25 flooded homes threshold, but they would have qualified if all flooded properties (both domestic and commercial) were considered eligible, which disadvantage small rural district authorities due to property density in those areas.

As a result, the FRF was revised in 2021 and published on 28 October, recognising these issues. Eligibility was to be based on flooded properties, both domestic and commercial, across LLFA geographies.

The 50 flooded property threshold at LLFA area was introduced as part of the FRF and PFR Grant activation in respect of Storm Babet in October 2023, and has resulted in properties in many districts that would have been excluded under the previous threshold being able to participate.