The Environment Agency today announced how it will use £99.6m central Government funding to reduce the risk of flooding across the Thames region for the year to March 2011.

The investment includes funds to build new and maintain existing river and tidal defences, develop flood forecasting technologies and heighten public awareness of flood risk.

This work forms part of the Environment Agency’s strategy to reduce the risk of flooding to more than 200,000 additional properties across England and Wales by 2015.

Some of the key Thames region flood defence projects planned to benefit from funding in the 2010/2011 financial year include:

• Barking and Dagenham: £12m to improve protection to almost 5,500 properties. This includes the construction of two new pumping stations and the refurbishment of tidal sluices along the Beam River and Gores Brook.
• Newman's Sluice Refurbishment: £2.4m will be spent on the £3.7 million scheme to replace the sluice gates and refurbish the existing structure at Newman's Sluice on the River Lee Flood Relief Channel, which protects 4,300 properties in the Lower Lee Valley.
• Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme - £2.3m will be spent on commencing work on the £15.4m scheme to reduce risk to properties in Crawley and Horley and infrastructure at Gatwick Airport.

Thames Region Flood Risk Manager Peter Quarmby said: “We will invest £99.6m on protecting lives and property across the Thames region from flooding over the next financial year (up to March 2011).

“The 2007 floods cost homeowners, businesses, emergency services and others some £3.2bn, and this underlines the importance of continued investment in reducing flood risk, particularly in face of the more frequent and heavy storms and rising sea levels that will come with climate change.

“It is essential that we continue to defend communities, businesses and the economy from the risk of flooding, and we are developing some major and far reaching plans to deal with flood risk in the future, such as the Lower Thames Strategy and the Thames Estuary 2100 project.

“Whilst continued investment is crucial, flooding cannot always be prevented so communities must also take responsibility for being prepared – for example by signing up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service and by preparing themselves in the event of a flood.”

The investment plans come a day after the Environment Agency announced plans to automatically enrol 130,000 properties in Thames region to its free flood warnings service, doubling the total number registered.

This funding is in addition to the agreed £10m local levy funding for the region, which was announced in November.