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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what further flood defences his Department plans to provide to Shrewsbury in the long term to avoid a repetition of flooding experienced in that area.

From April 2021, the Government is investing a record £5.2 billion in a new six-year capital investment programme to deliver around 2,000 flood schemes, benefitting every region of England, and will better protect 336,000 properties from flooding.

The details of the new six-year Capital Investment Programme for the River Severn Catchment are currently being developed by the Environment Agency in partnership with all other Flood Risk Management Authorities, including Shropshire Council.

The Environment Agency has recently completed an initial assessment of which further flood risk management measures for Shrewsbury may meet the cost benefit requirements for the programme. This includes the initial steps for a project to reduce flood risk in the Coleham area of Shrewsbury.

Last July, the Government announced it was investing £5.4 million of economic recovery funding in a large-scale carbon offsetting and natural flood risk management scheme that will include tree planting and habitat creation to reduce flood risk and capture carbon throughout the Severn Valley.

Across the wider Severn catchment, the Environment Agency continues to progress a pilot for a long-term investment pathway / Adaptation Pathway, thanks to £1.5 million of additional Government funding allocated as part of our Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme. This project will look ahead at least 50 years, to work out what flood defences are necessary in the long-term and when they should be built to avoid unnecessary further investment costs in future and missed opportunities.