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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support flood resilience in (a) Chippenham and (b) other towns; and whether his Department is taking steps to work with local authorities to develop climate adaptation plans for rural areas.

The Environment Agency (EA) is working with local partners on options to take forward the Chippenham Avon Project. In addition, the EA is working with Wiltshire Council on the Wiltshire Rural Runoff Project to improve understanding of the causes of flooding and to look for potential interventions to reduce the impacts of rural flooding.

In 2024, as part of the fourth round of reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power, we worked with 18 English local authorities to support local reporting of climate risks and adaptation.