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 mitigate the risk of flooding throughout Shrewsbury in the short and medium term, in the context of recent record levels of flooding.

The Government is investing a record £5.2 billion in a new six-year capital investment programme to deliver around 2,000 flood schemes, benefiting every region of England, better protecting 336,000 properties from flooding.

The Environment Agency routinely inspects and maintains its existing flood risk management assets at the Frankwell and Coleham Head areas in Shrewsbury, ensuring they remain operational and highly effective at alleviating flooding to properties, businesses and infrastructure including through the most recent significant flooding events.

The Environment Agency with the River Severn Partnership is developing a catchment scale approach to sustainable flood risk and water management across the Upper Severn catchment, to help address flooding and the impacts of climate change under the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme. This scheme has been provided with £10 million of Government Economic Recovery Funding to support the development of business cases and the frameworks needed to underpin future delivery. Amongst other outcomes, the scheme seeks to develop catchment-based approaches to reduce flood risk to up to 3,000 properties and 1,000 businesses across the upper and middle Severn. An additional £4.5 million of economic recovery funding has also been allocated to ‘demonstrator’ projects benefiting the Shrewsbury region: at Attingham Park, on the Rea Brook, in Guilsfield, Afon Camlad and Afon Cain Brooks in the upstream catchment.

The Environment Agency and partners are also developing a long term Climate Resilience & Adaption Strategy to cover the geographical extent of the River Severn area, encompassing the Severn catchment, comprising the Severn, Teme, Avon and Wye.