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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Environment Agency on the possibility of the River Great Ouse flooding in winter 2022-23.

The Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of matters with the Environment Agency (EA).

The Great Ouse river catchment area has been subject to regular flooding, with serious floods in 1912, 1947, 1953, 1998 and more recently, in 2020. The EA has worked to better protect thousands of properties from flooding in the catchment. Since 2003, the EA has invested in building and funding flood defence schemes that now better protect more than 25,000 properties across the catchment from flooding and erosion.

In the last year alone, the EA has invested around £18million in flood defence schemes and assets in the Great River Ouse catchment. It operates over one thousand assets to manage water through the catchment and it offers advice to riparian property owners on their responsibilities and how to prevent blockages to rivers that could increase flood risk. For properties in areas not protected by flood defences, the EA is looking at the potential for new schemes and also other measures such as Property Flood Resilience (PFR).

The risk of flooding can never be fully eliminated and it will continue to pose a threat to this region. The EA urge people to be prepared for flooding by following its ‘Prepare, Act, Survive’ guidance. The EA supports local flood action groups to help them better prepare their communities for future flood events and also provides the Flood Warning Service to provide time for people to prepare for flooding, and to protect their families and homes.