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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding for flood defences in Keswick.

The Government has invested £5.7million to deliver a flood risk management scheme for Keswick, which was completed in 2011 and better protects at least 180 residential and commercial properties with a standard of protection of 1.33% chance of flooding occurring in any given year.

Following Storm Desmond in December 2015, the Environment Agency commissioned a £3 million appraisal to construct the necessary business cases to better manage flood risk in a number of communities throughout Cumbria, including Keswick.

The Environment Agency has developed an extensive list of options on how it could manage flood risk at a catchment scale. For the local communities to be more involved in decision-making, the Environment Agency has shared these options with all communities within the Derwent catchment. Shortlisted options are expected in autumn 2017 and will further support future funding applications for flood risk management in Keswick.

A bid for funding for Keswick has been submitted as part of the process to refresh the Government’s six year capital investment programme. The outcome of this bid will be confirmed to the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFFC) in October 2017.

The Cumbria Flood Action Plan also sets out what the Environment Agency and partners are doing to reduce flood risks across Cumbria, based around river catchments, and incorporates actions from a range of partners in Keswick. As part of the plan, Cumbria County Council is to undertake works on a surface water scheme on Penrith Road by March 2020 and United Utilities are investigating how they can make changes to the way they operate the Thirlmere reservoir. The Environment Agency is facilitating discussions between United Utilities and Keswick Flood Action Group.