Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what remediation and flood prevention work has been undertaken in South Holland and the Deepings constituency since 2019.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the South Holland and the Deepings Constituency, £3.2m of Government Investment (GiA) was invested in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) schemes between 2019-20 and 2022-23 inclusive. Risk Management Authorities including the Environment Agency, Local Authorities and Internal Drainage Boards work in partnership to deliver the FCERM programme. In this period, 62 properties were better protected through capital schemes. Further flood warning and mapping improvements, recovery activities after flooding in 2019-20, and cross-boundary projects and studies were delivered outside of this capital programme. The Environment Agency has spent £10,511 revenue on Flood and Coastal Risk Management Maintenance between 2019-20 and 2023-24 inclusive. Actions include culvert clearance and weed cutting to improve flood conveyance, maintaining flood defences through embankment repairs and erosion protection, and operational safety improvements and mechanical and electrical maintenance of structures. The Lincolnshire Flood Risk and Water Management Partnership provides co-ordinated management and delivery of food risk and drainage functions of all relevant organisations across Lincolnshire.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what flooding (a) remediation and (b) prevention work has been undertaken in East Yorkshire constituency since 2019.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There has been £2.8m of capital investment in the East Yorkshire parliamentary constituency between 2019/20 and 2023/24. This has provided the Environment Agency led project to refurbish Barmston Sea End Outfall and projects to reduce surface water flooding delivered by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council in Pocklington and Langtoft.
Hempholme and Wilfholme pumping stations have both been refurbished, with most funding secured from the Local Enterprise Partnership and Internal Drainage Board. Both pumping stations have played a significant part this winter in helping to remove flood water from farmland in the River Hull catchment.
The Environment Agency is also conducting a project to assess and evaluate investment need in the Upper and Middle Hull, focussing on existing flood risk management assets. In addition, East Riding of Yorkshire Council has developed a business case for a scheme to reduce flood risk in the Kelleythorpe area of Driffield and is conducting feasibility studies for two other villages in the constituency.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to incorporate climate change projections into the UK Government Resilience Framework, in the context of flood prevention and management.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s long-term flood and coastal erosion risk management Policy Statement, published in 2020, sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. It includes five ambitious policies and a number of actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion in the face of more frequent extreme weather as a result of climate change.
Flooding resilience in England is a priority for Defra as part of the ‘whole of society’ approach to resilience outlined in the UK Government Resilience Framework (UKGRF). In December 2023 the Government published an implementation update for the UKGRF outlining progress to date in delivering commitments in the Framework. For example, the Government is investing a record £5.2 billion in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Capital Programme. Since 2021, over £1.5 billion has so far been invested in flood defence projects across the England, with over 67,000 properties better protected. Climate change projections are built into the design of new flood defences to make sure they are fit for the future.
On the 5 April 2023, the Government also announced the first communities in England to benefit from the Government’s £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance. These communities have been allocated a total of £48 million, better protecting more than 2,300 households and businesses.
Defra and the Environment Agency also work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to share flood risk information and identify particularly vulnerable areas. We constantly review our policies in the light of the most up-to-date evidence. This includes UK Climate Projections and the Government’s five-yearly UK Climate Change Risk Assessment.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to support the Environment Agency to produce a flood prevention business plan for Bassetlaw constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) Nottinghamshire County Council (as the designated Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for Bassetlaw District Council are required to produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS).
This includes a comprehensive Action Plan detailing the activities that will be undertaken to manage flood risk in the county. Following events such as Storm Babet and Henk, the LLFA is required to undertake investigations (referred to as Flood and Water Management Act (2010) Section 19 Investigations) into the causes and consequences of flooding and these should then be used to update the Nottinghamshire LFRMS with agreed actions which need to be undertaken to effectively manage the flood risk.
The Environment Agency is working closely with the County Council and other Risk Management Authority’s to ensure that the evidence of flooding which we have recently experienced is fully reflected in the Plan and the action Plan is revised accordingly. This, coupled with the National 6-Year Capital Programme of works approved by the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and the Flood Response Planning of the Local Resilience Forum is the framework we use to deliver more resilient communities, as is required by the National Flood Risk Management Strategy.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what remediation and flood prevention work his Department has carried out in (a) Worksop, (b) Retford and (c) the district of Bassetlaw in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency are committed to better protecting Bassetlaw and the area remains a high priority for them.
Environment Agency representatives will be meeting with the MP on 19 January 2024 to discuss flooding in his constituency and community drop-in events for constituents in Retford and Worksop are being planned for February. Updates will be sent to the MP once venues and dates have been decided.
Worksop
Since 2021 The Environment Agency have spent a total of £468,000 in Worksop on remediation and flood prevention work.
£257,000 has been spent on routine & intermittent maintenance, consisting of grass cutting, weed cutting & spraying, maintenance of outfalls & penstocks, clearance of debris screens, tree and bush clearance and desilting at Ryton Place and Bracebridge to improve conveyance.
Between 2023-2027, there is no current planned investment in capital schemes in Worksop itself.
Retford
Since 2021 The Environment Agency have spent a total of £603,000 in Retford on remediation and flood prevention work.
£368,000 has been spent on routine & intermittent maintenance in Retford consisting of grass cutting, weed cutting & spraying, maintenance of outfalls & penstocks, clearance of debris screens, tree and bush clearance and Intermittent Works to improve Retford Beck Debris Screen.
Between 2023-2027, £3.2m of Government Investment is currently planned for Retford.
Bassetlaw
Since 2021 The Environment Agency have spent a total of £1.6m in Bassetlaw (including the above figures) not including the routine & intermittent maintenance figures above.
Between 2023-2027, £13m of Government Investment is planned to be invested in schemes in Bassetlaw.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to farmers for the implementation of flood prevention solutions on their farms in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The six-year £5.2 billion floods investment programme is provided to Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) rather than providing funding directly to farmers. Although many RMAs work with farmers to reduce flood risk, we do not hold a central record for this information.
Current offers to support farmers include the Countryside Stewardship (Cs) scheme, which supports farmers to improve water quality and manage flood risk through a range of grants and advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming. Support from the CS scheme to manage flood risk includes grants to reward farmers to control runoff and make space for water. The yearly breakdown for the costs is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's policy statement entitled Flood and coastal erosion risk management, published in July 2020, how much and what proportion of the £5.2 billion of funding for flood mitigation has been allocated to nature-based flood-prevention solutions.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has estimated that between March 2015 and April 2021 it spent £20 million on natural flood management elements of wider flood defence schemes. This was in addition to the £15m natural flood management programme. There will be even more natural flood management in the £5.2bn flood defence programme from 2021-27, including £25 million funding to improve flood resilience through natural flood management, launched by the Environment Agency and Defra in September 2023.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of artificial grass on (a) natural habitats and (b) the wider environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not made a formal ecological assessment of the impact of the use of plastic grass in residential or commercial settings, however we continue to use available research to understand the impacts on biodiversity. We recognise that, in itself, artificial grass has no value for wildlife. Its installation can have negative impacts on soil health, biodiversity and drainage for flood prevention or alleviation if installed in place of natural earth or more positive measures such as planting flowers or trees or providing natural water features.
Our 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Given the scale of the plastics problem, we need to take a targeted and evidence-led approach to tackling the issues of plastic waste. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary plastic products.
Improving biodiversity is a key objective for the Government. We prefer to help people and companies make the right choice, rather than banning or taxing items outright. For example, the Environment Act 2021 introduced a number of policies that will support the restoration of habitat. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities will work together to drive action, including to create or restore habitats that enable wildlife to recover and thrive, while conservation covenants will help secure habitat for the long term.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a (a) ban and (b) tax on artificial grass for domestic use.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to make an assessment of the merits of banning or taxing the use of artificial grass. While there are no plans to make such an assessment, we are clear its use should wherever possible follow published advice and guidance, including advice in the Green Infrastructure Framework launched by Natural England in February. Included in this framework is a planning and design guide that references guidance on permeable surfaces in front gardens and advice from the RHS on the greening of front gardens, driveways and parking areas. The framework sets out how the installation of artificial grass can have negative impacts on biodiversity and drainage for flood prevention if installed in place of natural earth or more positive measures.
We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic plastic products and materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary plastic products. Our 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Given the scale of the plastics problem, we need to take a targeted and evidence-led approach to tackling the issues of plastic waste.
More widely, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consulted in December 2022 on updating the National Planning Policy Framework to recognise the threat to wildlife created by developers using artificial grass when building new homes. The response to this consultation will be published in the Autumn.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has taken steps to establish (a) programmes and (b) facilities for training emergency services on flooding and flood resilience.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency is actively engaged in partnership working with the emergency services and the military to ensure resilience and a readiness to respond to all environmental emergencies, including flooding. Environment Agency teams carry out joint training with the Fire and Rescue Service and other organisations. This involves the deployment of assets such as temporary barriers and mobile pumps to prepare for flooding. The Environment Agency’s work with the Fire and Rescue Services and the National Fire Chiefs Council has resulted in the supply of equipment and training to Fire and Rescue Services. The Environment Agency provides evidence and advice to inform the Government and support others to develop skills and capacity. The Environment Agency’s mapping and modelling services inform and warn communities and emergency responders about flood risk.
The Environment Agency also works as part of Local Resilience Forums alongside all emergency responders and other partners. Together they plan for prevention, control and reducing the impact of flooding on local communities. A similar approach is being developed with all emergency services, embedding the Joint Emergency Services Principles - ‘working together, saving lives, reducing harm’. The Environment Agency and Met Office work in collaboration as part of the Flood Forecasting Centre to provide a five-day national flood risk assessment. This provides a strategic summary for planning purposes, outlining all the relevant information from across England.