Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy Review

I am today updating the House on the Environment Agency’s review of the statutory flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy for England.

The current strategy, published in 2020, sets the long-term direction for managing flood and coastal erosion risk. Since then, our understanding of flood and coastal erosion risk has developed, which includes increasing recognition of the risk of surface water flooding.

This Government have also delivered significant changes to strengthen our national resilience to flood and coastal erosion risks. These include major changes to flood and coastal erosion funding rules to make it quicker and easier to deliver the right flood defences in the right places; the publication of the water White Paper, which sets out once-in-a-generation reforms that will transform the water system; and the UK resilience action plan, which sets priorities to strengthen resilience across society.

It is important that the updated strategy reflects the Government policy priorities to ensure that delivery is aligned with Government objectives. It must deliver and enable real improvements in protection and resilience for people and communities at risk of flooding and coastal erosion. I have, therefore, written to the chair of the Environment Agency, as the statutory body responsible for the strategy, to set out the Government priorities for the review. I have asked that the strategy should:

Recognise that deprived communities are more likely to face flood risk and coastal erosion, as well as face bigger challenges in recovery;

Reflect the latest evidence and learning on approaches to engaging the public in taking action to improve community resilience to flooding and coastal change as well as reflect best practice from community-voluntary groups in flood preparedness;

Reflect the ongoing work of the floods resilience taskforce to improve communications and co-ordination around flood preparedness and response;

Implement the Government’s updated flood funding policy to deliver a broad range of projects, including rebalancing investment towards capital and routine maintenance, repair and refurbishment, natural flood management and property level measures, and focusing investment decisions around value for money, continuing to seek partnership funding to make every pound of taxpayer funding go further;

Aim to define what good flood and coastal resilience looks like by setting out long-term strategic objectives and shorter-term measures, which should include exploring how a measure of national flood resilience could be developed over the longer term;

Provide strategic direction in support of lead local flood authorities to manage surface water flood risk including local skills and capability building, and supporting greater take up of surface water flood risk projects;