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11 hours ago
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Ministers are topping up flood defence investment in England to a “record” £2.65bn, after accusing the previous government of “putting lives at risk” by under-spending.
An extra £250m is being pledged on top of the £2.4bn previously announced, to shore up defences and protect an extra 66,500 properties from flooding over a two-year period, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
At a flood relief scheme near her Hull constituency, the floods minister, Emma Hardy, said the Conservative government’s lack of investment was a “dereliction of duty”.
“We inherited flood assets in the worst condition on record, which I think is arguably a dereliction of duty of the last government,” she said.
“The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens, and they’re failing to protect citizens from flooding, putting lives at risk, putting businesses at risk, putting homes at risk. So what we’re saying is we need this massive increase in the budget to £2.65bn.”
Damaging storms in recent years had also affected the quality of flood defence schemes, the government said, leaving many in need of urgent repair. Others needed an upgrade because they were built when the impact of the climate crisis was not as well known.
A total of 31 new projects are being given the green light, while £36m is being spent in 2025 to undertake urgent repairs to defences damaged during extreme flooding events.
Announcing the new funding, the government stated: “As well as protecting families from the devastation of flooding, the investment supports economic growth by protecting businesses, supporting jobs, and supporting a stable economy in the face of the increasing risk of flooding as a result of climate change.
“It will also protect farmland which has been badly hit by recent storms, in turn helping to safeguard farm businesses and farmers’ profits.”
Farmers affected by severe weather between October 2023 and March 2024 have been compensated to the tune of more than £57m, Defra has reported. The farming recovery fund has supported 12,700 businesses to cover the cost of restoring their farmland.
With climate breakdown contributing to more extremes in weather and more frequent flooding, more homes and businesses are expected to be flooded in the coming years.
When asked about whether it was possible to simply not build homes in areas at risk of flooding, Hardy, who previously worked in a school that was badly flooded, said that would mean cities such as Hull would not be able to build anything at all.
She suggested: “If we can not build on a flood plain then obviously that’s best. But there are ways of building that mean homes are not at risk of increased flooding and, more importantly, don’t increase the risk of flooding elsewhere.”
While the money was largely not earmarked for flood prevention schemes at the source, such as upland restoration, Hardy said the government was also looking at reviewing how the “flood formula” was calculated, which is used to allocate money based on the number of properties that would be protected.
This would mean schemes that have a wider good, such as natural flood management, would be more readily funded.
“It’s quite difficult with natural flood management to come up with a hard-edged calculation on how many properties are protected,” she said.
The shadow environment secretary, Victoria Atkins, said: “In government, the Conservatives invested record amounts of money in flood defences and coastal erosion. To say otherwise is wholly untrue.
“Steve Reed has not told us where this latest money has come from, whether it is in fact a repackaging of money invested by a Conservative government, or how he intends to offer tailored support to frequently flooded communities.”
