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 support (a) flood resilience and (b) coastal erosion defences along the Fylde coast.

The Environment Agency regularly provides information to community emergency response and flood action groups within Fylde. Coastal communities have been identified as a priority and are included in the Environment Agency’s engagement planning strategy.

The Shoreline Management plans set out a planned approach to manage the flood and coastal erosion risk.

The Environment Agency is working with partners on the ‘Our Future Coast’ project to design and test new approaches to coastal flood risk management.

The Fylde coast is currently protected by several coastal flood defences from Blackpool to Warton. The Environment Agency is working with the Local Authorities to identify funding streams and opportunities for future schemes along this coastline to further enhance existing defences. An example of this includes the Fylde Sand Dune project.